What kind of team traps are quite dangerous? The ones created by ourselves! Why? Because they are invisible at first glance.

In recent months, while working with management teams, we have been curiously exploring what most hinders team effectiveness, identifying barriers preventing us from achieving desired results or breaking out of established, sometimes ineffective, ways of working. Clarity began to emerge as we posed the question, “What do you most want to avoid experiencing in your team? What do you avoid?” The list in each team is not short, always different, yet very similar—human nature at play. We avoid what is unpleasant, unsafe, uncomfortable, what we fear we cannot control, what is unpredictable. It seems natural, but…

As these concerns are aired, it becomes evident that the potential consequences are largely imaginary, self-conceived, and detached from reality. Upon scrutinizing each point and seeking evidence of its occurrence within the team or organization, we find little substantiation. We realize that we’re caught in a cycle of suppressed energy not because we’re actually unsafe, but because we feel unsafe in scenarios we’ve created in our minds. We choose to stay silent, not make decisions, not engage, ignore, distance ourselves, until the repressed emotions eventually return in the form of fatigue, tension, decreased motivation, missed decisions and falling pace…

So, while studying psychological safety, let’s assess how unsafe the environment truly is and how much is a product of our imagination. Addressing this will alleviate stagnation within the team, and the renewed energy will invigorate our next steps.