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Carl Binder is a behavior scientist, management consultant, and thought leader who has been helping organizations improve learning and performance for more than 50 years; drcarlbinder@performancethinking.com.

Carl Binder

August 2024 - TD Magazine

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The Value in Focusing on Work Outputs

It can be hard to interact and meaningfully connect with someone who is different from us. The more we differ, the further apart we are, the harder it is to build a bridge. Why? Because most of our relationship skills are grounded in finding commonalities. When those commonalities are subtle or scarce, we struggle to connect.However, commonalities are not the linchpin of high-performing teams. Amy Edmonson and a legion of other scholars have convincingly shown that the key ingredient for a team coming together well is psychological safety—not liking each other, not socializing, not commonality (although all those factors can help).As Dr. Edmonson defines it, psychological safety is “the belief that work environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.” It is “the experience of being able to speak up with relative ideas, questions, or concerns. It is present when colleagues trust and respect each other and feel able—even obligated—to be candid.”One of the interesting characteristics of psychological safety is that it is inherently a team dynamic. It doesn’t exist in any meaningful way at the individual or organizational level. It lives and breathes (and dies) at the team level.So, if you want your team to work together well and you accept that psychological safety is the key, how do you build it? Here are three things to do to get started.Measure When interviewing Dr. Don Berwick, former CMS Administrator and CEO of IHI, he taught me that “a measure is the shadow of your heart.” If we sincerely care about something and want to change it, we will measure it. So, start by assessing where your team is in terms of their level of psychological safety and then decide on what would be a reasonable level of improvement. Continue to measure through regular pulse surveys. This is not a one-and-done. You need to evaluate whether what you are doing is increasing psychological safety (in which case, keep doing it!) or not (in which case, you need to try something else).Choose a Generous ViewAt the very heart of psychological safety is the belief that I won’t be judged negatively for being me. Unsurprisingly, it is the negative judgments we make about one another that, more than almost anything else, destroy psychological safety.To create psychological safety, we need to consciously and consistently choose a more generous view of others. I am not advising that we simply pretend that everyone and everything is great. Rather, I am suggesting that if we can suspend judgment and replace it with curiosity, we will be better able to hold space for the universal contradiction that good people do bad (or even just annoying) things.Insights from the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI) help people choose to see one another more generously. The SDI provides a framework to help team members look beyond people’s behavior and see how three primary motives (performance, people, and process) are driving that behavior. When we see in this way, it’s easier to choose a generous view because people often have a rational motive even if their behavior is frustrating for us.Maintain Good IntentIn Crucial Conversations, we make this audacious claim: people never become defensive about what you are saying; they become defensive because of why they think you are saying it.Said another way, psychological safety is entirely dependent upon the perception of intent in the conversation. If you want to create safety in a conversation, a relationship, or a team, start by cultivating good intent and then sharing it. Sharing lets them know what your motives and intentions are. It also helps you stay accountable to and connected with that good intent, even when issues pop up that might otherwise irritate or frustrate you.Your team may never become “besties.” But that shouldn’t be your goal. Solid friendships don’t always equal high performance; people may love being on a low-performing team with high comradery. Building a high-performing team that learns together, achieves results, and respects one another is a much more worthy goal and one that is within reach of all teams.

What to Do When Personality Differences Hinder Teamwork

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A majority (71 percent) of CEOs face imposter syndrome during their leadership, according to Korn Ferry. While we might not all be CEOs, most of us experience imposter syndrome at some point. The Label and the Human ConditionIt’s perfectly natural to feel like a fraud—whether it’s when facing a new job, environment, or large challenge.But there’s an interesting thing about the human mind. If we label it, in this case, imposter syndrome, it often becomes that very label we want to avoid.Moreover, labels make it seem like we are the problem.It’s worth remembering where the term came from. Doctors Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes originally referred to the “Imposter Phenomenon” in their 1978 paper: “The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention.”Interestingly, their paper was specifically about high-achieving women, and it never used the term “syndrome.” That was later added when psychologist Carol Tavris used both phenomenon and syndrome in her 1982 Vogue article, “Your Life, Your Health—Who’s in Control?”Why do all these details matter?In short, feeling like a fraud is a perfectly normal experience of the human condition. If we don’t doubt ourselves at times, we plow on making mistakes and missing details blinded by overconfidence.Instead, self-doubt allows us to reflect, check, and improve on ourselves.Of course, some cases can and do turn into a pathological syndrome, but it’s vital to understand and face the cause rather than jump onto symptoms.To manage imposter feelings, understand the root cause:How does your environment or work culture support or hinder your confidence? What is within your control to change? We can all do our part to nurture belonging as part of our work culture, including promoting book clubs, for example. Who or where are your allies such that you both support and promote each other? Feeling like you’re the only one in the trenches can turn into an imposter phenomenon.What biases or stereotypes operate around you? Sometimes we are hired into a leadership role because we are different, and this can quickly lead to feelings of not belonging and of being a fraud.Embrace the Whole of YouWhen facing imposter feelings, many try logic and reframing or mind over matter. “While these are valid techniques, the cognitive approach can only take you so far because imposter feelings are driven by emotions that want to be heard.”Instead, the art is to embrace all our emotions, an approach that can be built on the foundations of emotional intelligence at work. In the language of Internal Family Systems, we welcome all our internal parts.Essentially, we all have a family of inner parts, and it is within our power to embrace them. As such, we mediate harmony by leveraging our inner compassionate and confident core self.Everyone can connect to that inner core and become more grounded and at peace with their parts, including the imposter ones. The power of the approach is that it targets both our logical and emotional minds.Collaborate with your imposter part:Imagine your imposter part as a separate entity with shape and color, and try to get to know it. While this might sound strange, it naturally creates a space so that the emotions become less overwhelming.Practice self-compassion both toward yourself and your imposter part. It has been trying to protect you, even if over-enthusiastically. By highlighting self-doubt, it might be telling you to change your approach, for instance.Note when the imposter feelings come up and how they influence you. Sit with the emotions to deepen your understanding, and with time, they will gradually dissipate.Embrace Your Imposter Part for Future SuccessWorking with the mind means blending both logic and emotions. Most importantly, we need to deal with the root cause of imposter feelings. So, reflect on your inner imposter voice and collaborate with it. Furthermore, review how your environment and those around you perhaps feed the imposter part within you. As you connect with your imposter part and gradually shift what is within your control to change, you’ll find yourself feeling more grounded and self-assured. 

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