Reciprocity creates psychological safety

Reciprocity is foundational in building trust in the workplace. When leaders and teams engage in mutual giving and receiving of respect, time, information, support and feedback, an atmosphere where people feel valued and heard is created.

Psychological safety doesn’t only happen through policy and although it may be documented in the process of hierarchy of control measures within a risk assessment, real, genuine workplace psychological safety, is cultivated through relational equity and emotional autarky. Reciprocity signals to people “your presence matters and so does mine”.

When reciprocity is shown it signifies self-awareness, an understanding of mutuality, fairness and respect. Reciprocity is an action of relational empathy and provides evidence the person has capacity to be vulnerable and understand the level of self-awareness and empathy required to hold trust with another person.

Essentially, reciprocity means someone has moved from transactional relating “I will give if you do”, to transformational relating “We both grow when we give and receive”.

🍃 Reciprocity is the foundation of relational trust

🍃 Mutual exchange builds shared responsibility, trust and respect

🍃 Giving and receiving feedback with openness strengthens team cohesion

🍃 Psychological safety thrives when contribution and care are balanced with equal importance to progression and outcomes

🍃 Reciprocal relationships drive engagement and intrinsic motivation

Reflective questions to ponder:

⭕ How do you  provide opportunities between yourself and your team to give and receive outside job tasks?

⭕ In what ways do you model reciprocity with your team?

⭕ What would shift if you saw psychological safety as something shared, not given?