The building of great brands isn’t just a function of engineering excellence. Business leaders are slowly beginning to acknowledge that the organisations’ most valuable assets are not just their products or services, but their people.
Supply chain professionals work in a pressure-cooker environments where curve balls are thrown at them from all directions. They are faced with constant transformational changes — new sophisticated technologies, shifting market conditions, supply chain disruptions, black swan events and hybrid organisational dynamics.
There is proof that the only constant they can count on is change. The new normal will become the only normal. To thrust the needle forward, there is need for procurement personnel to push boundaries and challenge the status quo.
Against an increasingly turbulent and uncertain backdrop where the business landscape is rapidly changing and where the stakes will always remain high, psychological safety could be the only secret source available. In the supply chain business arena, where agility and quick decision-making are crucial, maintaining a high level of psychological safety is the need of the hour.
When employees hesitate to share early warnings of potential supply chain challenges because they are afraid of their bosses, organisations lose opportunities and accumulate unforeseen risks.
Amid this uncertainty, the potential cost of silence is enormous. Small problems can escalate into crises.
Without psychological safety, there is often a tendency for people to protect themselves rather than the business. Today’s complex supply chain challenges demand diversity of perspective.
Innovation thrives when people feel safe to think outside the box and process unconventional ideas.
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Psychological safety will cultivate a business environment where there is huge support of game-changing ideas from top management, with potential to create the next big thing for the business.
Psychological safety can be considered the magic glue that holds procurement team members together, giving them the opportunity to freely express their thought processes without fear of being ridiculed.
Supply chain leaders are required to create a conducive working environment where all team members can speak up freely, where mistakes are tolerated and where they are free to ask silly questions without apprehension. Such a workplace can be considered as a judgment-free zone where all team players are at liberty to spread their ideas out in the open.
Such an environment will give an invisible shield that guards against negativity, highlighting a direct correlation between psychological safety and overall business success. Collective teamwork will certainly hit the mark under such favourable circumstances.
Procurement leaders will be expected to create white spaces where suggestions and opinions from team members will find resonance. In such a work environment, the fear of being judged will always take a backseat.
In the airline industry, pilots and cabin crew are encouraged to express safety concerns without fear of reprisal. This culture of openness and support has led to relative safety experienced during flights. It means employees feel comfortable expressing their ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes without fear of embarrassment, punishment or rejection.
Psychological safety in procurement is a prerequisite for a professional life lived with intentionality. It enhances the extent to which procurement teams can take risks without facing humiliation from other team members or from authorities. It’s about feeling safe to express oneself without fear of negative consequences to self-image, status or career.
There is no need to hide from negative consequences or to sugarcoat bad news. People are free to throw out ideas openly, unfiltered and unchecked.
Human beings are inherently social creatures. Our well-being is deeply intertwined with our connections to others.
Business environments lacking psychological safety can lead to isolation, distrust and a profound sense of loneliness. A sense of psychological safety can make inclusion a reality. This inclusion facilitates mutual learning, helping performance in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world of work. There is need to have psychological safety baked into your company culture.
When team members in procurement feel seen and valued, the ripple effect is palpable.
Organisations with a culture of psychological safety experience lower turnover rates as employees are more likely to feel valued, respected and supported leading to increased loyalty and staff retention.
People are generally conditioned to avoid looking ignorant, but when procurement leaders normalise failures as part of individual growth, team members will feel safer taking calculated risks on behalf of the business.
Psychological safety implies that, in addition to trust, there is a culture of willingness to experiment, fail and learn again.
Team members in procurement will be free to express their opinions and ideas without fear of intimidation. They will have unlimited freedom to brainstorm without backlash. Unfortunately, not every new procurement idea is going to work. There will be mistakes and failures along the way. Psychological safety does not in any way imply that procurement personnel will be free to express their ideas with no boundaries.
It just implies that they will be expected to acknowledge their mistakes without any fear of being blamed. Mistakes will be regarded as normal slip-ups which can be corrected with the right guidance.
Another essential aspect of psychological safety is the ability to learn from failures. Team members in procurement should be allowed to view failures as learning opportunities rather than career-limiting events.
There must be a full realisation that every negative experience holds the seed of positive outcomes.
We know from research, experience and anecdotal evidence that even in failure there is value — lessons learnt, character built, and resilience strengthened.
Procurement teams must recognise that failure is not a reflection of an individual’s worth but a part of their journey towards success. They are required to understand that success isn’t linear and that every setback is a setup for a comeback. Every negative event brings you closer to a positive outcome.
There is need to emphasise the importance of learning from failures and using them as opportunities for growth and improvement.
Procurement teams must be encouraged to always stand tall through failures. Failures do not define individuals. But how people respond to failures can define individuals.
In today’s fast-paced corporate world, innovation is the lifeblood of success. By celebrating differences of opinion, psychological safety sparks innovation. It will shine as a catalyst for igniting innovation and creativity within teams.
New procurement ideas from other team members must be regarded as gold mines of learning, unlearning and relearning.
Where supply chain leaders embrace new ways of thinking, there is a tendency to cultivate a rich tapestry of insightful procurement solutions. Innovation increases when people feel safe proposing unconventional ideas without criticism from the authorities.
Psychological safety reduces the apprehension surrounding failure, which is an inherent aspect of innovation. Procurement personnel who are fully engaged at the workplace are always willing to go the extra mile in the best interest of the business.
The workplace will be transformed into a vibrant community where every team member in supply chain will feel appreciated in equal measure, creating a culture that values every voice.
Psychological safety in procurement thrives when respect for others flows freely in all directions. The intentional structure created by psychological safety establishes the necessary conditions for meaningful dialogue and co-creation, where every voice matters and new insights emerge through collaborative efforts. Remember, a happier, safer team is often a more productive one.
Nyika is a Supply Chain Practitioner based in Harare, Zimbabwe. For views and comments, he can be contacted at [email protected]
