Building Psychological Safety with Minette Norman and Karolin Helbig

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Psychological safety is a significant topic in organizational health and culture. Minette Norman and Karolin Helbig go a step further and believe it is the foundation for high performing teams. They join Kevin to discuss their key insights and examples that illustrate the power of psychological safety. They provide actionable strategies that you can implement in your own workplace. From humility to inclusion boosters, taking turns in speaking to creating a healthy agenda for meetings. These steps help create a culture where team members feel empowered, valued, and confident to take risks and contribute their best.

Key Points

Minette and Karolin provide an insightful definition of psychological safety. They share their innovative approach through five powerful plays. These plays include: Communicate courageously, Master the art of listening, Manage your reactions, Embrace risk and
failure, and Design inclusive rituals. Each play is accompanied by practical actions that you can implement right away to foster psychological safety within your team.

Meet Karolin and Minette

Name: Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman
Their Stories: Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman are the authors of The Psychological Safety Playbook. Karolin spent more than 15 years with McKinsey as a top management consultant and in leadership development, and has a deep expertise in science, helps leaders increase their effectiveness, optimize team performance, and transform their organizations through mindset, emotional intelligence, and psychological safety. She integrates neuroscience research that revolutionizes the way we understand human brains functioning and translates it into applicable and powerful leadership practices.

Building on her three decades leading global, technical teams in the software industry, Minette Norman focuses on developing transformational leaders who create inclusive working environments with a foundation of psychological safety. She has a deep commitment to fostering inclusion in the workplace and is a sought-after speaker in the areas of psychological safety, inclusive cultures, radical empathy, and collaborative teams.
Worth Mentioning: Prior to McKinsey, Karolin received her PhD in human genetics from the Phillipps-Universität in Marburg, Germany. Today, she integrates neuroscience findings that revolutionize the way we understand how human brains function and translates them into applicable and powerful leadership practices.

Minette holds degrees in Drama and French from Tufts University and studied at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. In 2017, she was named as one of the “Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business” by the San Francisco Business Times and as “Business Role Model of the Year” in the 2018 Women in IT/Silicon Valley Awards, Minette is a recognized leader with a unique perspective.

This episode is brought to you by...

The Long-Distance Team. Remote leadership experts, Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel, help leaders navigate the new world of remote and hybrid teams to design the culture they desire for their teams and organizations in their new book!

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Book Recommendations

The Psychological Safety Playbook: Lead More Powerfully by Being More Human by Karolin Helbig, Minette Norman
Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal
Rising: From a Mud Hut to the Boardroom ― and Back Again by Graci Harkema

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