Alicia de la Piedra, Digital Supervisor at Horizon Media, and a student in the M.S. in Strategic Communication program, writes about the importance of cultivating psychological safety on a team.
On a fall morning of 2019 I rolled into the San Francisco office of UM Worldwide, a strategic media planning and buying agency I was proud to be a part of. With a tall Starbucks in one hand and my laptop in the other, I strode past the glass walls with a sense of excitement. As I approached my desk I immediately recognized an unfamiliar face. I greeted the new manager, "Welcome to the team! My name is Alicia, I'll be your media planner."
Having a new team member was odd at first. I had grown accustomed to the comfort cultivated with my prior supervisor. Regardless, I was relieved we'd have a new set of hands to create and execute media plans in the fast pace expected of us. As the weeks passed, we worked in tandem researching consumption patterns, vetting vendors, and ultimately placing and executing 360° media buys.
One evening I was set to pack up for the day. As I tidied my desk I noticed an insertion order request delivered via email. With an itch to get ahead for the following morning I quickly popped open the email to save the file to our server. As I opened the file I noticed something odd. "A million dollar buy? With a new vendor?" I scanned my memory trying to remember when this had been discussed. As I peeked over my laptop at my manager, I felt a twinge in my stomach. "Do I say something?"
I debated internally and ultimately resolved it was worth the mention. If I was wrong then so be it. At least I'd have been cognizant enough to do my due diligence in double checking a buy. Right?
Psychological safety is a group culture defined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson as 'a shared belief held by members of a team that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking' (Duhigg, 2016). In other words, a sense of confidence among individual members to speak up and share ideas/concerns with the team.
I looked over and saw she had started packing up. "Hey Jen* - do you have a sec?" I leaned out of my chair - "I noticed this invoice notes $1MM media net. It seems out of the ordinary to have such a high budget for a new partner so I wanted to run it by you." Her eyes lit up. "WOW. What a catch. That should be $100,000. I must have added an extra 0!"
As one of the younger members of the team I was initially hesitant to flag the potential discrepancy. Lucky for me, the relationships cultivated had enabled a sense of psychological safety. Psychological safety is a group culture defined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson as “a shared belief held by members of a team that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking” (Duhigg, 2016). In other words, a sense of confidence among individual members to speak up and share ideas/concerns with the team.
Today I act as a supervisor overseeing Digital Strategy for Petco. As I make my way into leadership roles I make it a point to enable psychological safety for those I manage. After all, the safety I felt as an underling saved my prior account from spending an unauthorized $900K.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of any other person or entity.