Welcome to part 2 of 3 of our Psychological Safety blog series.  Last week we focus on Psychological Safety in the Workplace: Impact Leaders Have on Culture. Today we will dive back into the discussion on practical actions leaders can take to enhance psychological safety in the workplace. Remember to take the self-assessment linked at the end of the blog if you haven’t done so already.

Part 1 of 3 

As the earth completes another trip around the sun, we find ourselves, at that time of the year when everyone is making their “New Year Resolutions” for doing things better and differently. Blogs, articles, and podcasts about people’s attempts at self-improvement – ranging from eating better to getting more sleep, to being better business leaders – are widely circulated.

his year, I am going to do something slightly different and hopefully more helpful for business leaders. As the topic of Psychological Safety gains more relevance in the workplace and as the number of clients utilizing our new digital business leadership simulation called, “Leading Psychological Safety” increases, I thought it would be great to share some insights into the 9 common (and sometimes unconscious) behaviors leaders exhibit that break psychological safety. I want to follow this with ideas – resolutions – for changing these behaviors in 2023.

In this 3-part series, in addition to the content, we are providing several additional tools such as a self-assessment questionnaire and an action planning checklist. Take the self-assessment linked at the end of the blog to reflect on your current behaviors.

As the year of Training and Development comes to an end, it is time that we reflect on another year of change.  For today's blog post, I wanted to take a moment to be provocative and use some of the business acumen topics that we teach in our programs to share a few insights about Virtual vs. In-Person training.

The Customer Value Equation

One of the core elements that we teach an Advantexe Business Acumen program is to understand the customer value equation. In the content we teach, this is the foundational concept that all other skills are based on and revolve around.

In the Customer Value Equation, perceived value to the customer is equal to the relationship between the perceived benefits received by the customer relative to the perceived costs the customer pays. In the world of Talent Development, the “customer” is the head of talent development with the budget responsible for training employees to do their jobs and execute the strategy of the business. The talent development team is typically a part of the human resources function which reports to executive leadership at either the corporate or business unit level.

Let’s be open and transparent for a moment about the current status of global talent development.

If you are in the world of Talent Development you’ve been nervous.

We all read the economic news but more importantly, we have been hearing executives signaling for months that they have been considering cutting back operational expenses in light of lower revenues, higher costs, rampant inflation, uncertain job markets, volatile supply chains, and continued global political issues.

I have had many conversations with decision makers preparing for their training initiatives for 2023 and a significant majority have been proceeding with caution based upon all the factors mentioned above.

The headlines are in our faces with greater frequency, and it doesn’t feel like a small economic adjustment anymore.

This is starting to get serious:

• Amazon – 10,000 job cuts
• Twitter – 50% of its workforce
• Meta -11,000 job cuts
• Peloton – 5,000 job cuts
•  Salesforce.com – 2,500 job cuts
• FTX Crypto – Complete meltdown

And that is just the beginning. The list is a lot longer and a lot deeper and it is a clear indication that the headcount bubble is about to burst.