Following a presentation I gave this week on how project managers can cultivate psychological safety within their teams, an attendee asked me to what the relationship is between psychological safety and emotional intelligence (EI). After answering her I felt it was worth writing about it.
EI is normally considered to be a personal trait although it is possible to claim that one group of people has a higher degree of EI than another. Psychological safety is usually defined in the context of a team as it wouldn’t make sense to assess the level of psychological safety of an individual unless they are suffering from multiple split personalities! It would be difficult to assess psychological safety for an overall organization as companies are normally composed of multiple overlapping teams. However, it is possible to assess if the executive team is committed to building a team culture of high psychological safety within the divisions which they lead.
One model for EI uses the following four attributes: self-management, self-awareness, social awareness & relationship management.
How do these traits help a team to become psychologically safe?
Team members who are effective at self-managing and are self-aware will be better equipped to handle actions, comments or behaviors from their team members which they take exception to. They know what their own strengths are but they also understand their weaknesses which means that they are more likely to say when they don’t know something, are making an assumption or need assistance from someone else on the team. They have self-confidence which means they are comfortable with experimenting and not feeling that a failed experiment reflects poorly on their abilities.
Social awareness and relationship management relate to how much empathy we demonstrate towards others and to our ability to work well in a team as both a contributor and a leader. Having higher levels of these characteristics means that individuals will be better at picking up on the discomfort of their peers and can help those who are silent to find a voice. It also means that they will be more effective at resolving conflicts which could mean interceding on behalf of a team member if they are being persecuted.
So it seems like a reasonable assumption that on those teams where the members exhibit higher levels of emotional intelligence they are likely to become psychologically safe quicker than others.
But is there an inverse relationship as well?
It is difficult to effectively improve one’s emotional intelligence without receiving coaching and support from those whose feedback we trust. In psychologically safe teams, team members feel safer providing feedback with radical candor to their peers. As such, I’d assert that psychological safety can act as an accelerator for increasing the overall emotional intelligence of the members of a team.
A rising tide lifts all boats!
Easy in theory, difficult in practice 
I like the general proposition but am confused by this statement:
“So it seems like a reasonable assumption that on those teams where the members exhibit higher levels of emotional intelligence they are likely to become psychologically safe quicker than others.”
I’m not sure that having EI alone is enough to make one feel safer. Seems it’d help for someone to make things safer for others.
I would think the assumption would be that those with higher EI would create psychologically safer places. Or that those working for someone with a high EI would feel psychologically safer.
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Thanks Al – that was the point I was making that with individual team members having a high EI, they will do a better job of helping each other feel safe so the duration to getting to a team which feels safe would be reduced.
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ok, yes, i do get that. but what if the team in general is not safe. Guess i was bringing that thinking into it.
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Interesting thought, Al – if you have a team where everyone is at a high level of EI, could they still not be psychologically safe? In other words, is EI the ONLY prerequisite for psychological safety. I don’t think so – it is definitely possible for team members to exhibit high levels of EI but still have forces surrounding the team which would make it unsafe for its members. However, the lack of safety would come purely from without rather than within unless you have a few manipulative empaths within the team!
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EI may help me feel safe but it may not. I may not be safe 🙂
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