Presentation to SIKM Leaders Community on April 17, 2018 by Nancy Dixon

1. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
The Art of Creating a Trusted
Space
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SIKM
APRIL 17, 2018
Nancy Dixon
www.commonknowledge
nancydixon@commonknowledge.org

2. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
WHO I AM
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• CONSULTANT
• CONVERSATION ARCHITECT
• INTERACTIVE MEETING DEISGNER
• FACILITATOR OF IN-PERSON AND ON-LINE
GATHERINGS
• LONG TIME MEMBER OF SIKM
• AUTHOR
• KEYNOTE SPEAKER
• FORMER PROFESSOR AT GWU

3. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
“Trust”
5-10 Alerts Daily
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4. The Erosion of Trust
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5. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
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Project Aristotle
Google’s data indicated that
psychological safety, more than
anything else, was critical to
making a team work.
Duhigg, NYT, 2016

6. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Psychological Safety
Team members have a sense of
confidence that the team will not
embarrass, reject, or punish members for
speaking up.
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7. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Two Kinds of Trust:
• the team may meet
initially face-to-face to
build initial trust, but
have little face-to-face
interaction after that.
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• the team routinely
meets face-to-face, with
gradual trust growing
over time and through
shared experiences
Nilsson and Mattes (2015)

8. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
To Create Psychological Safety in a Team
• experience others’ capability to perform specific
tasks,
• their reliability in performing the agreed upon tasks,
and
• witnessing the integrity and kindness of others in
the work situation.
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9. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Psychological safety goes beyond
interpersonal trust to include
•respect for each other’s competence
•caring about each other as people
•trust in each other’s intentions.
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10. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Why Psychological Safety Matters to KM
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11. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Teams Members Learn By:
• Asking for help from other members
• Discussing differences of opinion openly rather than privately or outside the group
• Revealing their own errors to the team
• Seeking feedback, on their own actions and the team’s actions, from team members
and customers
• Sharing information, in particular, the unique information each member holds
• Testing their own assumptions and the assumptions of other team members before
acting on them
• Experimenting as a group with new actions to accomplish the team goal
• Reflecting together on results of team actions
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12. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
These actions are Risky
• Asking for help from other members
• Discussing differences of opinion openly rather than privately or outside the group
• Revealing their own errors to the team
• Seeking feedback, on their own actions and the team’s actions, from team members
and customers
• Sharing information, in particular, the unique information each member holds
• Testing their own assumptions and the assumptions of other team members before
acting on them
• Experimenting as a group with new actions to accomplish the team goal
• Reflecting together on results of team actions
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13. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Chris Argyris
“When team members perceive the
possibility of embarrassment or threat,
they act in ways that inhibit learning; in
short they remain silent or resort to
meaningless generalities rather than
risk negative consequences.”
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14. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Actions to Create Psychological
Safety in a Team
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• Be intentional about building relationships
among team members
• Institute teaming routines
• Reduce the power difference between leader
and member
• Change the physical shape of the meeting

15. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Build Relationship Among Team Members
• Create spaces for informal learning - build
nearby spaces for team members to get coffee
and to sit and chat
• Start team meetings with a check in, encourage
check in stories about family or hobbies, “What’s
going on in your world?”
• Have celebration dinners, sometimes include
families
• If virtual, use Zoom or Skype for meetings so
members can see each other
Team members can’t demonstrate kindness toward others unless they know about
others in a personal sense – walking the Application Trail, a kid in trouble, having a
paper accepted, an ill parent, winning a championship, getting a new dog
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16. The Initial Office Plan for the National Institute for Working Life
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17. Change the traffic flow
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18. “The Square makes what everyone does more transparent, otherwise it is
more secret - now everyone knows what we’re doing”
• 54% increase in knowledge of what others are working on
• Greater agreement on organizational vision and purpose
• More help on projects from others
• 32% increase on the number of door way conversations
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19. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Develop Teaming Routines
Teaming Routines (Edmondson)
• Team planning meetings
• Team After Action Reviews or Retrospects
• Meeting to jointly address issues the team is facing:
• client requirements
• interface with other units
• scheduling problems
• 15 min morning meetings
Team members can’t learn from each other unless they set aside time
to think together about issues they are jointly responsible for
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20. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Transitive Memory
Knowledge of what others know.
Which increases the respect for and
interest in the ideas of others.
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21. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Reduce the Power Difference Between
Team Leader and Team Members
• Leader wears clothing similar to clothing of team members
• In meetings, leader sits rather than standing in front of team
members
• In discussion, leader refrains from responding after every member
speaks, rather makes space for others to respond
• Leader frequently shares own mistakes
• Leader acknowledges own lack of knowledge about a topic,
deferring question to member who has greater knowledge on the
topic
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22. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Teams Members Learn By:
• Asking for help from other members
• Discussing differences of opinion openly rather than privately or outside the group
• Revealing their own errors to the team
• Seeking feedback, on their own actions and the team’s actions, from team members
and customers
• Sharing information, in particular, the unique information each member holds
• Testing their own assumptions and the assumptions of other team members before
acting on them
• Experimenting as a group with new actions to accomplish the team goal
• Reflecting together on results of team actions
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23. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Change the Physical Shape of the
Meeting
Hold a meeting:
•In a circle of chairs
• Somewhere you don’t
normally meet
•Several small tables
•In an informal space
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If you want to change the conversation, then
change the space in which the conversation
takes place

25. COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING · INTERACTIVE FACILITATION · KNOWLEDGE
Actions to Create Psychological
Safety in a Team
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• Be intentional about building relationships
among team members
• Institute teaming routines
• Reduce the power difference between
leader and member
• Change the physical shape of the meeting

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