A Workplace Full of Obnoxious People Vaporizes Your Productivity

Why feeling psychologically safe is crucial to getting more done

Oct 29, 2024

“Read the millions of words on my blog or in my books!”

This was the response that I got to my innocent question “what do you mean?” after reading someone’s social media (Substack Notes) post a couple of weeks ago.

This person proceeded to block me before I could even respond to their answer. They may as well have written their response in CAPITAL LETTERS.

I was upset.

I felt low for days afterwards.

So, I did what all writers do, and I wrote about it.

The week after this happened, I had a diary full of important meetings planned and a busy week ahead of me.

But I just couldn’t think straight.

My head was all over the place.

My productivity took a massive nosedive.

It took me days to get out of the slump.

I use all these cool techniques from different projects I’ve worked on and I STILL couldn’t get any work done because I was stuck in a bad vibe.

I see this sort of thing all the time in the workplace.

Those that disagree with colleagues but are worried about speaking up. The boss not liking the amount of progress that the team has made. Customers getting angry. Honest mistakes getting punished repeatedly.

It can be very disheartening and make you feel downtrodden.

That is not a psychologically safe place to be.

If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation – you’re not alone. The American Psychological Association (APA) has found that 22% of the US workforce did not feel psychologically safe at work in 2023. And 47% felt like this worldwide.

So, what are you supposed to do when you feel like this? How do you get back on track with your tasks and move on quickly?

Here’s what I wish I had known sooner:

It’s not about you – more often than not, that person is having a bad day, and their view of the world is coloured by their experiences.
Surround yourself with people that support you. Probably an obvious one - but stop hanging out with those that don’t believe in you or think you can’t do it.
Call it out – “I’ve been treated this way.” Depending on the circumstance, you don’t necessarily need to say who the person was, but in a work setting you should look for supportive senior allies, that you can confide in and discuss next steps with.
Focus on what you can control – you can’t control other people, what they think, or external situations around you, but you can control your state of mind.

Prevention is better than cure.

If you lead a team of people, you may wish to consider how psychologically safe you’re making the workplace for your staff.

In his work Matthew Syed talks about a famous aviation crash in the 1970s, which changed the way we look at safety today.

In this case the pilot was dealing with an issue with the landing gear and was unaware that the plane was dangerously low on fuel. Thankfully, the co-pilot had noticed this. But sadly, it was not the cultural norm for the co-pilot to speak up and make the pilot aware of this, and so he didn’t say anything – resulting in a serious air disaster and fatalities that could have been avoided.

Imagine you're in a car with a group of people driving on a road full of twists and turns.

If everyone in the car feels safe and trusts the driver, they'll focus on the journey itself—contributing ideas for the route, pointing out interesting things, or even suggesting faster paths.

They’re engaged and invested because they know that their suggestions will be considered, and they won’t be blamed if the suggestion doesn’t lead to success.

This is like a psychologically safe workplace: everyone feels free to share ideas, take risks, and learn from mistakes.

Now, imagine a different scenario where the passengers don’t trust the driver, or worse, they feel scared to speak up.

They might hold back useful suggestions, stay silent even if they know a better way, or just feel anxious throughout the journey. In this environment, the focus shifts from being productive or creative to merely surviving the trip without conflict.

If you have a workplace lacking in psychological safety, you’ll notice that your employees avoid taking risks, innovation suffers, and productivity declines because the priority becomes avoiding mistakes rather than seeking success.

When everyone in the car feels comfortable speaking up, the journey (work) becomes more efficient and enjoyable for everyone. Without it, progress stalls because fear and self-preservation take the wheel.

If you’ve noticed this happening in your team, here are five ways to restore trust, boost morale and reinvigorate productivity:

Be empathetic and supportive.

If people come to you with their concerns, be empathetic and provide emotional support to show you genuinely care.

Be open.

Encourage people to feel comfortable sharing their concerns, ideas, or even mistakes with you and each other.

Cultivate a positive team climate.

Establish a foundation of mutual respect and teamwork to create a solid platform from which your team can take risks and bounce back stronger.

Be a role model.

Encouraging people to come to you and being supportive when they do, is essential for allowing your team to feel heard and valued.

Reframe setbacks as learning opportunities.

Encourage a growth mindset where mistakes or ‘failing fast’ are part of the learning process. This will help your team to innovate and problem-solve more effectively.

The takeaway

When you don’t feel psychologically safe your productivity suffers.

When your team don’t feel psychologically safe, you all suffer.

Instead of feeling low for days, and not getting anything done, focusing on creating a psychologically safe environment for your people will help you all be more productive.

This might mean answering questions that you don’t want to answer.

It might mean hearing raw truth that makes you uncomfortable.

But the result will make the workplace happier and more relaxed. And just like when you swing a golf club with relaxed arms instead tense arms, you’ll achieve better results.

Have you ever experienced low productivity because of events outside of your control?