Psychological Safety: not just buzzwords, but intentional practices that must be built into an organization with buy-in from all parties. Watch Increase Psychological Safety in the Workplace by Embracing Failure, featuring Priyanka Mehandiratta (Founder & CEO @ Unmute), Andrea Robb (Co-founder @ Vibrancy), and Maayan Ziv (Founder & CEO @ AccessNow), who get real about protecting employees’ mental health by creating a collaborative environment where failure provides valuable opportunities for learning.

Key takeaways from the session:

1. There are three layers of belonging:
   1. Individual: Me and you. Do I feel a sense of belonging with you? Do I feel safe? Do I feel heard? So we see that a lot with managers.
   2. Team: Do I belong in this team? Am I feeling like this team is valuing my contributions? My manager might, but when they’re not in the room, am I feeling like I can take risks?
   3. Organization: Do I belong here? Sometimes, those signs and signals are through the actions of leaders. Who’s on the leadership team? Do people look like me?
      These layers provide the basis of psychological safety. (Andrea Robb)
2. Accessibility is a key component of increasing psychological safety
   Accessibility is often viewed as an awkward or add-on thing that people need, and it’s usually associated with a specific group of people. It’s like a grab handle in a bathroom: bolted on, not aesthetic, and not something that was intentionally designed to be there. The future of accessibility is understanding that it means different things to different people. Although it should be inspired and co-created by people with disabilities, accessibility benefits every single person and can manifest in many different ways. (Maayan Ziv)
3. Leaders must bring their own failures to the table
   This supports an environment where everyone feels safe to bring their own. A constant loop of innovation, failure detection, analysis, and learning application creates an informed process where failure is an event, not who you are, and an understanding that failure is what happens to you, not what you are. (Priyanka Mehandiratta)

About All Things People: 

All Things People is Venture for Canada’s annual conference. The 2023 conference took place on April 4, 2023, at Toronto Metropolitan University, with the theme of unlocking the potential of multigenerational teams.

All Things People 2023 aimed to break down generational stereotypes and provide actionable insights or tools to managers and leaders through workshops, keynotes and stage talks. The conference featured 40+ industry speakers and experts, like Hamza Khan, Future of Work expert and author of Leadership, Reinvented, and Jenn Harper, Founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty.

The first All Things People was hosted virtually in March 2022, and had nearly 300 attendees. Focused on implementing diversity, equity and inclusion best practices at startups, over 40 speakers hosted workshops, keynotes and networking sessions.

To learn more, visit our All Things People website.

About Venture for Canada: 

Venture for Canada is a national charity focused on accelerating the careers of Canadian youth through immersive opportunities at innovative startups and small businesses. Through our three core programs—Intrapreneurship, Internship, and Fellowship—young Canadians gain the skills, experience, and networks they need to lead more entrepreneurial and impactful careers. In 2022, Venture for Canada supported over 1,000 startups and small businesses across Canada to hire entrepreneurial young Canadians. 

To learn more, read our 2022 Impact Report.