Why Your Interns Need Psychological Safety

Half of young people say they have yet to catch up with the learning they missed during the pandemic according to a recent Covid Social Mobility and Opportunities (Cosmo) study.

The research also found that 40% of young people believe the pandemic left them unprepared to take their next steps, and two-thirds have changed their education and career plans for the future as a result of the pandemic. Even outside of their learning and working journeys, the pandemic has been a challenging time for Gen Z, with over half of 18 to 24-year-olds reportedly experiencing anxiety or depression in some form as a result of COVID-19.

It’s no secret that young people today are entering the workforce at a time of at a time of change, instability and uncertainty, and we’re already starting to see the impact this can have on organisations ill-equipped to cater to the specific needs of this generation of Early Talent.

The question people leaders should be asking: How can I prepare my interns (and future workforce) for the world of work, given their journey has been more disrupted than most?

The answer? By embedding Psychological Safety into your internship programme design.

What is psychological safety?

Psychological Safety is commonly defined as “a shared belief held by teammates that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”

In practice, it means that your people can freely experiment, fail, and have difficult conversations without fear of losing their jobs or being disciplined. Investing in fostering a psychologically safe work environment like this has been proven to help boost constructive ideating and creativity amongst teams. Despite its benefits, only 47% of employees would describe their workplaces as psychologically safe.

What does psychological safety mean for interns?

For interns, psychological safety allows them the space to learn more quickly through experimentation, asking questions, and getting things wrong in a safe environment. Learning more quickly means becoming work-ready more quickly. This is critically important in a time when young people are feeling unprepared to enter the workforce, uncertain about their future, and anxious that they don’t have the basics to succeed at work.

Here are three ways to begin embedding psychological safety into your internship design:

1) Create spaces for dialogue

Between cancelled summer programmes, online studies and exams, and lack of in-person work experience opportunities, your incoming cohorts of interns will have had less exposure to the working world than those that came before them. Even before the pandemic, this generation had less work experience than previous generations at the same age: In 2018, only 18% of Gen Z teens aged 15 to 17 had a job, compared to 27% of millennials in 2002 and 41% of Gen X in 1986.

As they begin their working careers, your interns will have questions. Lots of questions. Give your interns a space that empowers them to ask questions, however big or small. This could be in the form of group chat networks, regular question forums with senior leaders, or even 5-10 minutes carved out of their regular check-ins dedicated to “no dumb questions”. This lets your interns know that they have a voice in the workplace – and, more crucially, that their voice matters.

Read how lululemon created spaces for conversation in their internship programme ➔

2) Encourage failure through gamification

Failure activates the neural circuits that play a critical role in recall and remembering – increasing knowledge retention by up to 25%. However, humans don’t like failing. Notably for interns new and inexperienced in work, failing can have a negative emotional impact on wellbeing, resilience and sense of self.

One solution? Adding elements of gamified learning (and failing).

Gamification is one way of creating a safe space for getting it wrong by using play as a learning tool. When done well in learning design, play creates a space with its own agreed-upon rules, its own codes of conduct, its own expectations and practices that every participant voluntarily agrees to. In this space, the stakes are lower for failure (no one dies, is exiled from society for life, or is branded a failure forever). Your interns can let go and not worry about the consequences of getting it wrong.

Instead, they can invest in learning how to get it right, and build valuable skills at the same time – perfect for interns who want to make a good impression and avoid any form of embarrassment

Read more about play-based self-led missions in our Internships Toolkit ➔

3) Start with your Leaders

31% of people feel less connected to their leaders and 37% feel less connected to their teammates after  the pandemic. For your interns new to the world of work, this number is likely to be even higher.

If you want your interns to feel like part of your organisation, you’ll have to lead the way. Show that you are open-minded, compassionate, and transparent. Openness resonates with Gen Z. The two most powerful tool in your belt? Your line managers.

75% of people leave a role due to their line managers. Your efforts to convert your interns into your future talent pipeline can depend deeply on their 1:1 experience with their line manager, who is effectively the face of your organisation as far as your intern may be concerned.

It’s crucial to have structured development plans, support systems and mentorship programmes in place to support your Early Talent craving assistance, while also providing a “safety net” and critical upskilling for Line Managers who may not always have the tools to invest during their 1-on-1 time.

Read how to set up your Line Managers for success in our Line Manager Toolkit ➔

Looking for more Internship Design Tips?

Our 2023 Internships Toolkit explores tried-and-tested internship components that boost conversion and enhance your internship experience, including work-ready skills, self-led learning modules, and wellbeing tools. Request your copy.