In the mining industry, psychological safety isn't just a "nice-to-have" – it's deeply linked to the bottom line and operational safety. When people don't feel safe to voice their concerns, especially those related to safety and output target risks, everyone loses. Managers miss early warnings; critical insights go unheard, and performance declines. It's a vicious cycle that's often hard to break, especially within the rigid, hierarchical structures that helped build our industry.

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One definition of psychological safety is "a condition in which you feel included, safe to learn, safe to contribute, and safe to challenge the status quo—all without fear of being embarrassed, marginalised, or punished in some way."

Many studies show that psychological safety improves team productivity, operational safety, and personal well-being. Although the roles of managers and consultants in promoting psychological safety have received significant attention, at Stratflow, we have found that changing the focus and coordination between various functions within the organisation can achieve this goal more effectively and with significantly less effort.

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Psychological safety does not happen in a vacuum; the safety, financial and operational pressures on the organisation have a significant impact. Under pressure to achieve financial and operational performance, employees may become reluctant to speak up about safety issues that can impact production, and managers may become unwilling to hear about it. This is human nature and cannot easily be changed. At the same time, the high degree of interdependence and variability in mining requires good coordination at short time intervals, something that the hierarchical structure (which is critical for consistent performance) has difficulty with. To make good decisions under these circumstances, managers require timely input, but they may find that there is limited willingness to speak up.

 

A Different Approach to Psychological Safety

In more than 90 interventions since 2000, we discovered that enhancing the way departments coordinate and align can significantly improve psychological safety. These changes were initially implemented to boost productivity (which it does quite well) and the positive impact on psychological safety was unexpected.

 

Key Transformational Strategies:

1. Bottleneck-Centric Performance Management: Instead of traditional blanket KPIs, focus on identifying and optimising the critical operational bottleneck. This approach creates a shared understanding of organisational performance that transcends departmental boundaries and hierarchy.

2. Radical Transparency: Implement visual boards that make critical aspects of operational performance visible across all departments (only those few measures which are crucial and no more) . When everyone can see the cause-and-effect relationships of their work and those of their colleagues, accountability and trust naturally emerge.

3. Interdepartmental Collaboration: Encourage management and employees to support cross-functional coordination rather than siloed oversight. This transforms managers from controllers to enablers of collective performance.

 

The Dividend of Focus, Coordination and Psychological Safety

The results are remarkable. Organisations implementing this approach have seen:

1. Production increases of 10-40%

2. More stable and predictable production cycles

3. Unprecedented levels of trust and engagement

4. Significantly reduced load on management attention

 

When the organisation delivers a step change in productivity, safety interventions start to be seen as essential to performance rather than threats to productivity, leading to greater employee willingness to speak up and contribute.

Learning Teams: The Future of Safety and Continuous Improvement

In an environment of visibility, trust and transparency, organisations find it easy to implement Learning teams that genuinely improve safety and productivity. These teams can have deep, truthful dialogues about work factors, breaking down the traditional barriers of hierarchical and functional communication. In this way, they connect the silos.

 

Summary

In over 90 Flow Room interventions worldwide, we've seen employees experience much improved psychological safety and deliver dramatically improved operational and safety performance.

By changing focus, coordinating the siloes and buffering against surprises, we increase stability and predictability. We call this state "Superflow in a Spirit of Calmness". In this environment Psychological Safety emerges spontaneously which delivers a positive feedback loop towards the organizational goals.

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These experiences have led us to believe that Psychological Safety can be engineered into the system more easily than trying to mandate it. The new way of working adds agility to the hierarchical structure and creates a culture where employees openly share insights, trust each other, and fully engage in the mission. The result? Higher productivity, improved safety performance, and a workplace that draws out the best in every individual.

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The mining industry stands at a critical juncture. Those who embrace these innovative approaches will not just improve psychological safety—they'll create safer, more resilient, high-performing organisations that can adapt to the complex challenges of modern resource extraction.

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Are you ready to transform your organisational culture?