Understanding the importance of psychological safety in the age of AI

There's general agreement now that Artificial Intelligence (AI), or some form of it is going to change the work you do, in some way.

With a major shift towards AI in the workplace, has it compromised psychological safety of employees?

Psychological safety is one of the most widely discussed concepts in management in recent years.

First popularised by Amy Edmondson, it describes the belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, a foundation for candour, learning, and high performance.

Professor Jefferson Yu-Jen Chen, from the Gordon Institute of Business Science and consultant at Forward Notion Advisory says it's critical for team members to nurture environments that allow people to speak up.

"Lots of people don't seem to understand the essence of psychological safety. It's beyond just self-confidence. It is also nurturing the environment where your manager, yourself and your peers have equal responsibility," says Chen.

"AI will be there to assist you. Accelerate your thinking, to be your thinking partner. However, just like any new innovation, into the organisation and into work, some people are more ahead, some people are more behind. Those people that are behind, we shouldn't make them feel threatened in any sort of way." adds Chen.

Listen to the interview in the audio player above.