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Psychological safety and physician teams

Jessica Wisdom, Ph.D., and Henry Wei, M.D.,   writing about a project they did at  Google, discuss the importance of psychological safety in physician teams.

They note at the start that “Physicians may enter training drawn to the autonomy of medicine, but effective health care delivery — particularly in the era of Accountable Care Organizations and patient-centered medical homes — will likely be driven by effective teams, not individuals working solo.”

“But what is the secret to creating an effective team? Over two years, Google conducted 200+ interviews and a series of analyses of over 250 attributes to understand what drives team performance. What emerges is not the who, but the how: the attributes of the team members matter less than how the members interact, structure their work, and view their contributions.”

“For healthcare, this may mean that individual clinicians’ technical excellence is necessary, but insufficient to improve team-driven patient outcomes.”

“We’ve learned that there are five key dynamics that set successful teams apart from other teams at Google:

  1. Psychological safety: Can team members take risks by sharing ideas and suggestions without feeling insecure or embarrassed? Do team members feel supported, or do they feel as if other team members try to undermine them deliberately?
  2. “Dependability: Can each team member count on the others to perform their job tasks effectively? When team members ask one another for something to be done, will it be? Can they depend on fellow teammates when they need help?
  3. “Structure & clarity: Are roles, responsibilities, and individual accountability on the team clear?
  4. “Meaning of work: Is the team working toward a goal that is personally important for each member? Does work give team members a sense of personal and professional fulfillment?
  5. “Impact of work: Does the team fundamentally believe that the work they’re doing matters? Do they feel their work matters for a higher-order goal?”

“It may surprise people to learn that psychological safety is the most important of these five dynamics by far. In fact, it’s the underpinning of the other four.”

In their piece, they outline six steps to improve team performance and psychological safety

To read their piece, please hit this link.

 


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