We all heard about importance of psychological safety for high-performing teams. How can you start developing one if your team exists in a fear-based culture? Learn about the symptoms of fear and safety enhancers that can help you eradicate fear from your teams and your organisation!

1. DANA
PYLAYEVA
TEAM UP TO
ERADICATE FEAR
AGILE
GAMES
2018

2. Agile Coach,
Hudson’s Bay Company
Former DBA Manager,
Architect, Java Developer
Agile Games Designer,
Author and Speaker
Founder of
Big Apple Scrum Day
Conference
dana@agileplayconsulting.com@DanaPylayeva

3. HIGH
PERFORMANCE
1. Symptoms and impact of
Fear.
2. Fear reset experiment.
3. Three engagement
questions.
4. Review Safety Enhancers
5. Introduce “Fear
Eradicated” Game.
FEAR

4. REMEMBER:
YOU
HAVE
A RIGHT TO
PASS

5. 1. Pair up by the puzzle colors.
2. Interview each other - 2 min each.
3. Complete each others’ puzzles.
AGILE GAMES 2018 PUZZLE
@DanaPylayeva
Name
and
sketch
How do you feel at the
end of Day Two
of
Agile
Games?
••
Ecstatic: an awesome
mix of fun and learning.
Exhausted:
played too
many games.
Confident –
I am bringing back
a lot of new games.
Mischievous
I'll play a few games with
my execs on Monday.
My Family My Team
I am
passionate
about…

6. Much Fear in You I Sense…

7. SYMPTOMS OF FEAR IN
ORGANIZATIONS
HOW MANY HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED?
@DanaPylayeva

8. Adopted from Ron Westrum
FEAR
SAFETY
FEAR CRIPPLES INFORMATION FLOW

9. Decision
making,
Problem
Solving
Motivation,
Focus,
Emotional
Reaction
Creation
and Filing
of New
Memories
AMYGDALA HIJACK
Primitive Brain aka “Fear Hub”:
Fight, Flight of Freeze Response
Amygdala:
Primitive
Brain –
Keeping us
Safe

10. DON’T
EXPECT
INNOVATION
FROM
PEOPLE
AFFECTED
BY
AMYGDALA
HIJACK
@DanaPylayeva

11. “FIGHT OR FREEZE”
RESPONSES
AT
WORK
@DanaPylayeva

12. Your best people are the quickest to
leave if they are disengaged
“FLIGHT” RESPONSE AT WORK
@DanaPylayeva

13. “How you
manage your
own fear will
either calm
things down or
further rev things
up.”
Harriet Lerner, Ph.D.“The Dance of Fear”

14. PAIR UP
FOR A
FEAR
RESET
Adopted from
Tim Ferriss
IT’S YOUR
TURN NOW!
Fear of failing
miserably with
the keynote L
1. Play test the game
at P4A
2. Dry run at HBC
3. Dry run at
NYCSUG
Register for
P4A
@DanaPylayeva

15. Meaningful Available
“People are bringing in and leaving
out various depths of their selves
during the course of their work days.”
~William A Khan 1990
Psychologically Safe
@DanaPylayeva

16. AVAILABILITY
DISTRACTIONS
@DanaPylayeva
Adopted from William A. Khan

17. “a climate in which the
focus can be on
productive discussion
that enables early
prevention of problems
[…] because people are
less likely to focus on
self-protection”
(Amy C. Edmundson 2002)
PSYCHOLOGICAL
SAFETY

18. SAFETY
ENHANCERS

19. PRACTICE SPEAKING
ABOUT
FEELINGS…
SELF/TEAM

20. THREE SIMPLE TOOLS
Feelings Cards
Story Cubes
Happiness Histogram
SELF/TEAM

21. GIVE YOUR
TEAM A
STARTING
VOCABULARY

22. PAIR- INTERVIEWS WITH
PERSONAL MAPS
TEAM
https://management30.com/practice/personal-maps/

23. LGBT+
Youth
#MAVEN
Tech Camp
at HBC Tech
TEAM
CO-CREATE TEAM NORMS
@DanaPylayeva

24. MEME TEAM NORMS

25. MEASURING HEALTH AND SAFETY
TEAM
Adopted from https://labs.spotify.com/2014/09/16/squad-health-check-model/
@DanaPylayeva

26. FEAR AND VULNERABILITY
TEAM RETROSPECTIVE
Environmental Organizational
Relational
(We)
Personal
(Me)
Explore the ideas of trust, honesty, fear, and vulnerability
in each of those four contexts.
( by Andy Cleff, FrontRowAgile)
TEAM

27. FEAR-TEST YOUR
RETROSPECTIVE ACTION(S)
Adopted from Michelle Poler http://100dayswithoutfear.com
TEAM

28. LEADERSHIP
Go After the “Things
That Suck”
Move From
Blame to
Curiosity
Discover and Amplify
Voices through Open
Space
@DanaPylayeva

29. INTRODUCING
“FEAR ERADICATED!”
GAME

30. YOU NEED
5-6 PEOPLE
TO GET
STARTED.

31. FEARERADICATED
BUILD A FEAR LANDSCAPE
1.Pick 3-5 cards for your group discussion.
2.Review & rate (on a scale of 1-4): How strong
is each issue for your team?
3 23 14
@DanaPylayeva

32. FIND THE SAFETY
ENHANCERS
3. Take a card from the Fear Landscape.
4. Select appropriate Safety Enhancers
(Self, team or leadership level).
Discuss them with your team.
3
@DanaPylayeva
FEARERADICATED

33. THERE IS ALWAYS A CHANCE…
5. Roll the dice. Same number as the fear strength?
You need one more safety enhancer.
Different number? Great! This fear is eradicated.
6. Select the next card from your Fear Landscape.
How many can you eradicate in the next 10 min?
3
@DanaPylayeva
FEARERADICATED

34. Take The First Step
Don’t Do It Alone
Recognize Fear
Symptoms
Do a Fear Reset
With Your Team
Bring In Safety
Enhancers
Eradicate Fear From Your Culture
@DanaPylayeva
Reflect and Repeat

35. THIS PRESENTATION WAS
INSPIRED BY:
Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work WA
Kahn - Academy of management journal, 1990
Amy C. Edmondson “Managing the risk of learning. Psychological Safety in work
teams” http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/02-062_0b5726a8-443d-
4629-9e75-736679b870fc.pdf
Ron Westrum “The study of information flow:A personal journey”
https://www.frontrowagile.com/blog/posts/109-the-fear-and-vulnerability-
retrospective
http://100dayswithoutfear.com
https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_ferriss_why_you_should_define_your_fears_instea
d_of_your_goals
http://news.gallup.com/reports/178514/state-american-workplace.aspx
https://hbr.org/2012/06/learned-helplessness-in-organi
https://hbr.org/2008/07/the-competitive-imperative-of-learning
http://yuvalyeret.com/using-the-spotify-squad-health-check-beyond-the-squad/

36. TOOLS AND PROPS
Feelings Playing Cards: https://www.amazon.com/Feelings-Playing-
Borgman-Pulitzer-Winner/dp/B00391H3D4
Rory’s Story Cubes: https://www.storycubes.com
Happiness Histogram: https://plans-for-retrospectives.com/en/?id=59
Personal Maps: https://management30.com/practice/personal-maps/
Kahoot! Survey: https://kahoot.com
Interested in Fear Eradicated Game?
Send an e-mail to dana@agileplayconsulting.com to be notified
when it will become available.

37. Thank you for playing,
I’d love to hear your
feedback!
@DanaPylayeva
dana@agileplayconsulting.com