Psychological flexibility has the power to transform organisational cultures, enable organisational change, and enhance managerial and leadership skillsets.
But what is it, and how is it different to Psychological Safety?
At Becoming International, psychological flexibility is the chassis that underpins our vertical leadership development work. Over the coming months, we will publish blogs and hold events to explore the power of Psychological Flexibility and some of the many ways that it can radically shift organisational life. Click here to stay connected, be notified of new blogs and invited to upcoming events.
What is Psychological Flexibility?
Psychological flexibility is the ability to “contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and to change or persist in behaviour when doing so serves valued ends.”
Psychological flexibility is an ongoing capacity or process that a leader can continually loop around, allowing them to break into patterns of avoidance or attachment. Leaders who learn psychological flexibility can:
- Notice – what are my different internal experiences? How are they keeping me stuck or off track?
- Choose – what are the broadest range of choices I could have? Which one leads toward who and how I want to be?
- Act – what habits can I build or actions can I take that lead towards how and who I want to be?
Psychological flexibility processes can be developed using methods from Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT). ACT is an approach to advancing human well-being that was developed in the 1980s. Evidenced and supported by over 1450 randomised controlled trials, ACT uses metaphor, paradox, and experiential exercises to equip leaders to make healthy contact with thoughts, feelings, memories, and physical sensations, rather than experience emotional attachment or avoidance. Leaders develop the flexibility to recontextualise and accept these internal experiences, develop greater clarity about personal values, and take action towards who and how they want to be as a leader.
What is Psychological Safety?
“Psychological safety is a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking”
Psychological safety is about how safe individuals feel to make mistakes, speak up and be honest and direct with each other. In a psychologically safe environment, individuals feel able to take those risks, without fear of reprisal or negative consequence.
In 2023, a CIPD review demonstrated the value to organisations when psychological safety is felt to exist. It influences organisational outcomes such as information sharing, learning behaviour, team performance, proactivity, retention, engagement, safety and more.
However, the same review found that interventions that were aimed at enhancing psychological safety had little empirical evidence of their impact.
How are Psychological Flexibility and Psychological Safety similar and different?
The two concepts are fundamentally different in two ways:
- Firstly psychological flexibility is individual – each person can develop it for themselves. Whereas psychological safety exists in a shared setting, e.g. a team or an organisation, and no single individual can create it on their own.
- Secondly psychological flexibility focuses on internal experiences – an individuals thoughts or feelings. Whereas psychological safety focuses on with external experiences – the risks associated with interpersonal interactions.
However, while the two concepts differ, they are also intrinsically linked.
When we talk about psychological safety in organisations, we’re often discussing what managers or colleagues can do to make it a “safe” environment for each other. The hope then is that if the environment is safe, each individual will feel / be able to take action.
And there’s no denying that this is important. It is critical that we all take steps to make our working environment one where people can speak up, challenge, and take risk or opportunities.
But even when we do that, uncomfortable thoughts or feelings still come along. Perhaps we worry that we’ll be judged badly or that we’ll stand out in a negative way. Maybe we have a rule or belief that we have to be invited to speak, or that the opinions of more senior people should be respected. Or possibly we’ve been taught that mistakes cannot be tolerated or conflict is to be avoided at all costs.
Without psychological flexibility, those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings have the power to prevent us from taking risks and taking the actions that are important, for us, the team or the organisation.
Using a metaphor to bring it to life
At Becoming, we like to use the metaphor of a disco…
When you, your team mates and your manager are building psychological safety, you’re building the disco. You’re putting down the dancefloor, putting up the lights, installing the music system, choosing the music. You’re make it safe to dance.
But here’s the question – once the dancefloor is built, are you always willing to be the first one to get up and dance?
For most of us the answer is no – we don’t want to risk being considered a fool, we don’t want to be the only one, we don’t want people to judge us, etc.
So when we’re working on your psychological flexibility, what we’re doing is equipping you to be the first one on the dance floor. We’re giving you tools and techniques that mean you can get up and dance, when its important to you.
Psychological Flexibility is critically important
Psychological flexibility is critical to productive organisations, effective teams and individual well-being. It has the power to transform organisational cultures, and without it initiatives aimed at building psychological safety will have limited success at best.
At Becoming, we believe psychological flexibility is the critical missing link for leaders and organisations today.
Psychological flexibility is the chassis upon which Becoming International’s vertical leadership development work is built. Over the coming months, we will publish blogs and hold events to explore the power of Psychological Flexibility and some of the many ways that it can radically shift organisational life. Click here to stay connected, be notified of new blogs and invited to upcoming events.
