Psychological Safety and High-Performing Teams
The following contribution comes from the Psych Safety portal, which defines itself as follows: Our mission is to make the world of work a safer, higher-performing, more inclusive, and equitable place.
We work to achieve this by collaborating with clients and partners to train, develop, and empower people around the world and foster psychologically safe environments in their organizations and teams.
We are building a global community of people who want to create and maintain psychological safety. We share, whenever possible, new research and opinions, case studies, news, practices, and methods related to psychological safety. We also offer training, consulting, tools, and advice, as well as stickers.
We address topics such as inclusion, safety science, human factors, facilitation, safety-critical environments, systems thinking, leadership and management, diversity and equity, mental health, organizational dynamics, culture, ethics, and much more.
We cover topics such as inclusion, safety science, human factors, facilitation, safety-critical environments, systems thinking, leadership and management, diversity and equity, mental health, organizational dynamics, culture, ethics, and much more.
The author is Tom Geraghty, a leading authority on creating safer, higher-performing, and more inclusive workplaces, and co-founder of Psych Safety, a company dedicated to fostering a culture of safety and psychological safety. His interdisciplinary background in ecological research and technology uniquely positions him in this field: he began his career as an ecologist and later moved into technology, holding CIO/CTO positions in diverse sectors, from innovative tech startups to established global financial firms. Currently, Tom is an award-winning consultant and researcher in psychological safety for multinational corporations, healthcare organizations, academic institutions, governments, and other sectors.
With a degree in Ecology, Tom holds an MBA, a Master’s in Global Health and Humanitarianism, and is a peer reviewer for the BMJ. Tom combines multidisciplinary academic knowledge with diverse practical experience. His approach focuses on harnessing the transformative power of psychological safety, which stems from his understanding and experience of organizational dynamics and the complexity of work environments.
High-Performance Teams and Psychological Safety at Work:
Psychological safety is the foundation of team performance, whether we focus on consistent quality, innovation, adaptability, security, or a combination of these. When people feel psychologically safe, they are more able to express ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. Let’s briefly analyze each of these and examine their relationship to performance:
Ideas: When we feel safe to suggest ideas, even those that are «half-baked» or incomplete, we are more likely to discover truly good ones. This puts us in a better position to innovate, experiment, and find better ways of doing things. This doesn’t mean we will innovate or experiment in inappropriate contexts, but rather that we will feel safe discussing how we can improve and do things differently, safely, and appropriately.
Questions: Only by asking questions can we address the gaps in our knowledge. Asking questions allows us to discover how to do something more effectively, quickly, and safely, and to understand the initial reason behind it. It’s also a way to ask for help with a task, reducing risk and burnout, and sharing the learning process.
Concerns: This is where psychological safety reduces the risk of disaster. Numerous disasters, from Chernobyl and the Challenger to the
Volkswagen emissions scandal and the global financial crisis, have, among their contributing factors, the inability or ineffectiveness
to express concerns. From a nurse reporting a potential surgeon’s error to a software developer complaining about the lack of accessibility in their software, raising concerns is essential to preventing things from going wrong.
Mistakes: A lack of psychological safety means that mistakes are hidden until they become too serious. In teams with high psychological safety, we admit our mistakes and allow everyone else to learn from them. This means that we don’t keep the learning to ourselves and that everyone else avoids making the same mistake. Furthermore, admitting the mistake as soon as it occurs allows us to mitigate its impact: we can take steps to ensure it doesn’t cause a disaster and that its impact is reduced.
Therefore, we see that psychological safety is essential for team performance. But that’s not all.
Trust and psychological safety are fundamental
to team effectiveness, especially in remote and distributed work contexts, where often the real problem lies in ineffective management and not in the very nature of remote work.
Psychological safety is aligned with empowering teams and individuals regarding strict norms, including «return to the office» mandates, and is also critical for addressing the challenges faced by marginalized and underrepresented groups in traditional office environments. This underscores the need for leaders to be aware of historical and social dynamics in order to foster psychological safety.
When it comes to speaking up, the stakes are higher for some than for others.
There are various factors that can inhibit people from expressing their concerns
in seemingly psychologically safe environments, ranging from past personal experiences to systemic and cultural issues. We must not ignore the psychological safety «backpack» we bring with us to our teams and workplaces. Team diversity depends on people feeling psychologically safe: we cannot feel included if we do not feel psychologically safe, and inclusion is fundamental to diversity. Diversity also improves team performance, but only when people feel psychologically safe.
Just because we feel safe on a team doesn’t mean everyone else does.
A team is only as safe as its least safe member.
There are many things we can do to foster greater psychological safety
and team performance, and the two are often intertwined in a virtuous cycle: the more psychological safety we foster, the greater the team’s performance potential. And the better the team performs and the more good habits we develop, the greater our psychological safety becomes. We must be careful not to confuse psychological safety with simply being «nice»; that path leads to toxic positivity and the potential to weaponize psychological safety. Being «nice» doesn’t lead to candor, but we should strive to be kind, which can sometimes involve telling difficult truths, asking uncomfortable questions, or challenging people.
Psychological safety alone is not enough to foster team performance.
A psychologically safe group doesn’t necessarily have high performance. To achieve high performance, teams also need:
Well-defined and ambitious goals.
Clear structure, roles, responsibilities, processes, and priorities.
Focus, ambition, and purpose: we need to be committed to our success.
Shared norms, expectations, and standards of behavior.
Experience, knowledge, and expertise in the field.
The ability to share information, including best practices for learning from work.
Manageable workloads and unused time.
A higher proportion of planned versus unplanned work.
Definitions of «done» and «finished.»
Opportunities for reflection, both practical and emotional.
Permission to rest.
And many other characteristics and capabilities.
See Google’s Project Aristotle for essential industry insights on psychological safety and team performance.
A team cannot be «too» psychologically safe
Numerous articles and studies claim that a team can be «too» psychologically safe, and that some teams with a very high level of psychological safety actually underperform. These studies fundamentally misunderstand or misrepresent psychological safety and overlook the crucial point mentioned earlier: that psychological safety alone is not enough. For example, a team with high psychological safety that becomes lax is not lax because of high psychological safety, but because of a lack of high standards, clear objectives, or ambition. It is never helpful for anyone to feel unable to express an idea, raise a concern, or make a mistake.
For example, Cabin Resource Management (CRM) training in aviation teaches how to create environments where people can express themselves openly and confidently to management and hierarchy. At no point, throughout decades of successful CRM training, does the scientific literature state that we should help people feel safe to express ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, «but not too much!» CRM has been the most successful safety program in human history, with proven success over decades and millions of flights a year.
If a team begins to exhibit unconstructive or negative behavior when it feels psychologically safe, psychological safety is not the cause. Simply put, once the constraint of interpersonal risk is removed, other constraints become apparent.
Team performance is not the only reason we encourage psychological safety.
Psychological safety is not just about group performance; it is part of our right to show our true selves at work. Psychological safety, as Amy Edmondson states, is about being able to fully show ourselves at work. Being fully show at work means that people can show their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, background, family status, and any other aspect of their identity without being judged.
Even if psychological safety didn’t affect team performance, it would still be the right thing to do.
Psychological Safety at Work
I love this Twitter thread by James Heathers, who delves into some of the negative views on remote work that have been circulating in the business press. James directly addresses misleading journalism, flawed science, and the hidden (or not-so-hidden?) intentions behind the push to get people back into the office. He points out that many highly successful organizations have operated entirely remotely or online for years. James states: if your organization finds that remote work is impacting productivity, the problem isn’t remote work itself, but rather that «many people managing staff are a mess, gave up on the complication of not having social control to maintain, and wanted to go back to normal without having to learn anything or be decent to their people.»
And along the same lines, here’s a delightful read from Dan Rust, who sharply criticizes organizations that demand a return to the old ways. «If you’re looking for innovative ideas for profitable products, corporate optimization, communication innovations, and simple productivity from smart people who get bored easily, then let them go.» High-performing teams don’t need to be tied to the office; they need to be empowered and liberated.
We recently discussed how to provide feedback to improve performance by
minimizing harm and fostering greater psychological safety, leading to high-performing teams. Excellent designer and sketchwriter Chris Spalton has created this sketchnote summarizing how to give great feedback.
This is an excellent article by Agatha Agbanobi and T. Viva Asmelash on creating psychological safety for Black women in the workplace. Given the historical marginalization and discrimination Black people, particularly women, have experienced, and the fact that offices have traditionally been designed by and for white men, leaders must consider the relevant historical and social context and take appropriate action. This article highlights some of those actions, including necessary conversations, pay audits, and improvements in coaching, feedback, and leveraging privilege.
John Cutler does an excellent job here of delving into some of the reasons why people might not voice their concerns, even in a psychologically safe environment. These include:
Lack of trust.
They have tried unsuccessfully to raise the issue in the past. They assume the situation is normal.
They know there is a problem, but they misattribute the cause.
They fear their job is at risk.
They haven’t heard from anyone else with the same problem.
They assume there must be a reason why things keep getting worse.
They don’t want to blame anyone.
They aren’t paid to worry about it.
They don’t know how to raise the issue.
They believe it’s too serious to address.
They fear isolation or exclusion.
They benefit from the problem.
Here is a profound and fabulous analysis of micromanagement and psychological safety, written by John Schrag, on the mechanisms, the reasons, and how it is detrimental to team members, managers, and the organization.
And here is an example of how to create a psychologically unsafe environment! Thanks, Work Chronicles.
Here is a comprehensive review of the academic evidence on high-performing teams, conducted by Eric Barends, Denise Rousseau, and Iulia Cioca of the Center for Evidence-Based Management (CEBMa). The research was funded by Novartis and focused exclusively on quantitative academic studies. This is an evidence review, so there is nothing necessarily «new» in these findings, but the article reinforces some well-known key elements of high-performing teams, including:
Team dynamics: requires team members to trust each other and feel psychologically safe.
Team cohesion: arises from familiarity and shared norms and behaviors.
Shared thinking: examines how team members interpret problems and communicate.
Information sharing: ensures the best use of each member’s expertise.
Team reflection: involves working toward shared goals, collaboration, and communication. Well-planned interventions: include teamwork, training, briefings, and goal setting. As has already been demonstrated in Google’s Project Aristotle, the State of DevOps Reports, and numerous academic articles, psychological safety is essential for high-performing teams.
How to Improve Psychological Safety at Work
The following contribution comes from the Winningtemp portal, which was founded on a simple yet powerful idea: to combine science, intuitive data, and AI to help leaders unlock the full potential of their teams. Created in collaboration with leading research scientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Winningtemp helps organizations worldwide make smart, proactive decisions to boost engagement while simultaneously reducing stress levels and employee turnover in winning teams.
The article is authored by Sara Holmberg, who has a strong background in legal and HR consulting at firms such as Fingerprint Cards, PwC, and Flex. She joined Winningtemp as HR Director in August 2021. Sara is passionate about people and believes that the future of work and HR is moving toward an approach where employees feel valued and have the tools to reach their full potential. To achieve this goal, she focuses on providing employees with the desired level of autonomy in their roles, creating a reward system that centers on recognizing and understanding their needs, from financial well-being to mental health. Furthermore, her commitment to well-being is reflected in her work as a board member of Räddningsmissionen, a Swedish charity that works for social rights and ensures everyone has access to a decent life.
How to Improve Psychological Safety at Work
Everyone, everywhere, at any time, should feel safe at work. This sense of safety shouldn’t be limited to physical security but should also extend to psychological safety. But what do we mean by psychological safety, and why is it important?
One of the leading experts in the field, Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson, describes psychological safety as: “The belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for expressing ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, and that the team is safe to take interpersonal risks.”
In essence, psychological safety refers to the belief that one can express their thoughts, ideas, concerns, and questions without fear of retaliation, humiliation, or negative consequences.
It’s a work environment where employees feel comfortable being themselves, sharing their opinions, and taking risks without fear of judgment or retaliation. In such an environment, team members trust each other and collaborate more effectively, which ultimately translates into greater productivity and job satisfaction.
Google’s Project Aristotle
In fact, according to a pioneering Google study called Project Aristotle, psychological safety is the fundamental element for a team to work and succeed.
Why is psychological safety important?
In teams with high levels of psychological safety, the following are often observed:
Greater innovation
Since employees feel safe to generate and share ideas without fear of recrimination or retaliation, innovation is much greater. Employees are more likely to take risks because they are not afraid of failure.
Open Communication
Good communication is the foundation of any successful team. When employees feel safe to express their opinions, they are more likely to share valuable information and feedback. This leads to better decision-making, problem-solving, and innovation within the organization.
Increased Employee Engagement
When employees know their voices are heard and respected, they become more engaged, resulting in greater motivation and productivity.
Reduced Employee Turnover
A workplace with high psychological safety is less likely to experience high turnover rates. Employees are more likely to stay with a company that values their contributions and well-being.
Improved Physical and Emotional Well-being
Psychological safety contributes to the mental and emotional well-being of employees. It reduces stress, anxiety, and burnout, making the workplace a healthier and happier environment.
Data from our «Battle Turnover» report supports this and shows that…
75% of employees are more likely to leave a manager who is neither open nor honest.
87% are more likely to leave a manager who doesn’t keep their promises.
79% are more likely to leave the company if they perceive their managers as treating them unfairly.
84% who feel their management team makes poor decisions are more likely to leave the company.
How can psychological safety be improved?
For managers, monitoring the psychological safety of their team is crucial… but it’s easier said than done. We understand this can be very difficult, which is why we’ve developed a specific category of questions in our product focused on psychological safety. By prioritizing psychological safety, leaders and teams can reflect on the current situation and gain insights and support to take the necessary steps to improve it.
A good starting point is to ask yourself questions like:
Is it safe to make mistakes and take risks on my team?
Do I listen to my team and solicit their input and participation to improve?
Or do I always have to have the last word?
Do team members bring up sensitive topics or difficult problems with me and the team?
Is it easy to ask for help on our team? Do I ask my team for help if I don’t know how to do something?
The answers to these questions will give you an idea of your level of psychological safety. If you decide it needs improvement, or you simply want to improve it even further, here are our top tips:
- Be open and curious
Being curious is one of the most underrated skills in the workplace. By being open and curious, you can learn more about your team: what they like, what they dislike, what inspires them, what their vision is, what matters to them, and much more. By caring about the person and actively participating in their life, you lay the foundation for strong and successful relationships.
- Make Empathy Your Superpower
Empathy is everything. People respond to people, and an empathetic manager or team leader will earn their team’s trust much more easily than someone who is indifferent or uncaring. Once you have high levels of trust, your team is ready to achieve greatness.
- Set Clear Expectations and Support Your Team
Make sure you set clear expectations for the team and for each individual, and track both performance and behavior. Understanding how our different roles contribute value and how we can succeed together as a team will also increase the sense of psychological safety. Be your team’s biggest fan, their biggest supporter, and their protector—all in one. Stand up for them, defend them, and make sure they know they are safe with you at the helm. Download our Team Success Handbook for more tips and tricks on building winning teams.
- Be Vulnerable
Let your humanity shine through; your team wants to see it. If you can be vulnerable with them, they’ll feel safe being vulnerable with you. You don’t always have to have all the answers, and that’s okay. Make sure your team knows this.
- Lead by example
Of course, this all boils down to leading by example. Be the kind of leader who inspires with kindness, encourages with curiosity, and sets a standard that others aspire to.
In short
At Winningtemp, we encourage our teams to have regular, dedicated meetings where we discuss the team’s current state in relation to our work environment. This is a meeting where we focus on our working relationships and how, together, we can create the best possible working environment for our team.
Data from the Winningtemp platform guides the team, suggests topics for further discussion, and serves as inspiration for future actions. The meetings are typically led by team members, rather than the manager, to increase participation and foster team commitment. These guided temperature checks are also a great opportunity for leaders to open up and ask for feedback on their leadership, and to demonstrate a willingness and curiosity to understand the team’s needs.
In short, psychological safety is the foundation upon which a thriving work culture is built. It fosters open communication, boosts employee engagement, reduces turnover, encourages learning, and improves well-being.
By implementing the right strategies and using the right tools, you can create an environment where every employee feels safe, valued, and empowered to contribute their best. Invest in psychological safety and watch your organization thrive.
Read more about our supplemental temperature checks here or download our guide, «How to Rebuild Organizational Trust,» to learn more about addressing your challenge.
Understanding Psychological Safety for High Performance
The following contribution comes from the FLAGSHIP PARTNERS portal, which defines itself as follows: At Flagship, our fundamental philosophy is proactive, not reactive; we seek to detect problems before they become serious issues. Our forward-thinking approach allows us to protect our clients’ future by providing them with the skills and knowledge necessary to overcome any obstacles they may encounter in their roles.
Authorship by the team.
Business Skills
Why is Psychological Safety Vital for Team Performance?
Psychological safety is the key to transforming a good team into a great one. Imagine it as the solid foundation of a house: without it, everything else is precarious. Here are some reasons why psychological safety is crucial for a team:
- Fosters Innovation:
In an environment where team members feel safe, they are more likely to take risks and share innovative ideas. This creativity can generate revolutionary innovations and solutions that wouldn’t emerge in an environment driven by fear. Consider Google’s famous 20% time policy, which allows employees to dedicate a portion of their time to projects outside their regular tasks. This policy thrives on psychological safety, leading to products like Gmail and Google News.
- Fosters Learning and Growth: Psychological safety fosters a learning culture. When team members aren’t afraid to make mistakes or ask questions, they learn and grow more quickly. This environment mirrors a classroom where students feel free to ask seemingly absurd questions, leading to greater understanding and knowledge.
- Boosts Engagement and Motivation: When people feel safe, they are more engaged and motivated. They give their all to their work, bringing energy and enthusiasm. This engagement is similar to that of a sports team, where each player feels valued and secure, resulting in better overall performance.
- Improves communication and collaboration: In a psychologically safe team, open and honest communication is the norm. Team members can express their concerns, give feedback, and have difficult conversations without fear of retaliation. This transparency is like a well-oiled machine, where every part functions perfectly and efficiently.
- Improves resilience and well-being: Psychological safety promotes mental health and resilience. Team members can better manage stress and setbacks when they know they have a support network. This environment is like a safety net that catches you when you fall and helps you bounce back stronger.
- Builds trust and strong relationships: Trust is the cornerstone of any effective team, and psychological safety is essential for building and maintaining it. When team members feel safe, they trust each other more, leading to stronger and more cohesive relationships. It’s similar to a close-knit family where everyone feels they belong and are valued.
Real-life examples support this.
For example, a study by Google’s Project Aristotle revealed that psychological safety was the most critical factor in determining team success. Teams with high psychological safety were more likely to harness the power of diverse perspectives and collaborate effectively.
In essence, psychological safety isn’t just desirable; it’s essential for any team seeking high performance and sustained success. It transforms the workplace into a dynamic ecosystem where everyone thrives, grows, and contributes to their full potential.
So, what is psychological safety?
Psychological safety is a concept that describes a team environment where people feel safe to take interpersonal risks. This means they feel comfortable being themselves without fear of negative consequences for their image, status, or career. It’s about creating a space where people can express their ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes without being ridiculed or punished.
Next, we delve deeper into what psychological safety entails:
- Freedom of expression: In a psychologically safe environment, team members feel free to express their thoughts and opinions. They are not worried about being judged or shamed for their contributions, whether they are questions, concerns, or innovative ideas.
- Fostering diverse perspectives: Psychological safety encourages diversity of thought. Team members know that their unique perspectives are valued and that disagreement or debate can lead to better decision-making and problem-solving.
- Accepting mistakes: Mistakes are seen as learning opportunities, not failures. When people are not afraid to admit their mistakes, the team can learn and improve collectively, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
- Supportive interactions: Team members support each other, offering help and constructive feedback. There is a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect, which builds stronger and more resilient teams.
- Trust and Mutual Respect: Psychological safety is based on trust. Team members trust that their colleagues have good intentions and that they will not be belittled or penalized for taking risks or making unintentional mistakes.
- Non-Punitive Responses to Vulnerability: People can show vulnerability without fear of negative consequences. This includes sharing personal challenges or admitting a lack of knowledge.
The concept of psychological safety was popularized by Amy Edmondson, a professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School,
who defined it as «the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for expressing ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.» Her research demonstrated that teams with higher levels of psychological safety perform better, as their members are more likely to collaborate and contribute fully.
A practical example of psychological safety in action can be seen in aviation. Airlines that foster psychological safety among their crews have better safety records. When pilots and crew members feel comfortable openly discussing potential problems, they can prevent accidents before they happen. This proactive communication and trust among team members are vital for maintaining safety and performance.
Psychological safety involves creating an environment where people feel safe enough to take risks, make mistakes, and be themselves. This foundation is essential for any team seeking high performance, innovation, and sustained success.
How do I create psychological safety in my team?
Implementing psychological safety in your team means fostering an environment where members feel respected, valued, and safe to express themselves without fear of negative consequences. You can achieve this by:
- Lead by example:
– Be open and approachable: Show vulnerability by admitting your own mistakes and uncertainties. This sets the tone that it’s normal to be human.
– Model respectful behavior: Treat everyone with respect and kindness, especially during disagreements.
- Encourage open communication:
– Invite participation: Actively solicit feedback, ideas, and concerns from all team members. Make it clear that their opinions are valued.
– Listen actively: Pay attention to what team members say without interrupting or judging. Show that you genuinely care about their opinion.
- Create a safe environment for risk-taking:
– Normalize mistakes: Emphasize that mistakes are a natural part of learning and innovation. Discuss what went wrong without blaming anyone, focusing on the lessons learned.
– Celebrate failures as learning opportunities: Share stories of past failures and the growth that resulted from them.
- Provide feedback for development:
– Use positive reinforcement: Highlight what went well before suggesting improvements. Ensure that feedback is specific, practical, and growth-oriented.
– Provide support: Offer help and resources for team members to improve and develop their skills.
- Foster inclusion and respect:
– Embrace diversity: Encourage diverse perspectives and ensure that all voices are heard, especially those of more reserved team members.
– Respect differences: Promote a culture where different opinions and backgrounds are respected and valued.
- Establish clear norms and expectations:
– Establish ground rules: Develop team norms that foster respect and open dialogue. Ensure everyone understands and accepts them.
– Clarify roles and responsibilities: Ensure everyone knows their role and how they contribute to the team’s goals.
- Provide training and resources:
– Offer workshops: Conduct training sessions on communication, empathy, and conflict resolution to develop these skills within your team.
– Share resources: Provide access to articles, books, and other resources on psychological safety and related topics.
- Maintain regular contact with your team:
– Organize regular meetings: Hold frequent one-on-one and team meetings to discuss progress, challenges, and the sense of security.
– Use surveys and feedback tools: Conduct anonymous surveys periodically to assess team members’ perceptions of psychological safety.
- Address problems promptly:
– Take concerns seriously: When problems arise, address them quickly and effectively to demonstrate that psychological safety is taken seriously.
– Resolve conflicts fairly: Manage conflicts with a fair and impartial approach, ensuring that all parties are heard and respected.
Implementing psychological safety is an ongoing process that requires commitment and consistency. By fostering a culture of openness, respect, and support, you can create an environment where your team feels safe to innovate, learn, and perform at their best.
Frequently Asked Questions about Psychological Safety
- What is psychological safety?
Psychological safety is the shared belief that the team is safe to take interpersonal risks. It’s a climate where people feel comfortable being themselves, sharing ideas, asking questions, admitting mistakes, and providing feedback without fear of negative consequences for their image, status, or career.
- Why is psychological safety important? Psychological safety is crucial because it fosters an environment of trust and open communication, leading to greater innovation, learning, engagement, and overall team performance. Teams with high psychological safety are more resilient, adaptable, and able to leverage diverse perspectives to solve problems and make better decisions.
- How can I tell if my team has psychological safety? Some signs of psychological safety in a team include:
– Open and honest communication
– High levels of commitment and participation
– Willingness to admit mistakes and learn from them
– Diversity of ideas and perspectives shared and respected
– Constructive feedback received and received positively
You can also use surveys or anonymous feedback tools to assess the team’s perception of psychological safety.
- What are common barriers to psychological safety?
Common barriers include:
– Fear of punishment or humiliation for making mistakes or expressing opinions
– Dominant or disrespectful behavior from team members or leaders
– Lack of trust among team members
– Poor communication and unclear expectations
– A culture that discourages risk-taking and innovation
- How can leaders foster psychological safety? Leaders can foster psychological safety by:
– Modeling vulnerability and openness
– Encouraging and valuing diverse perspectives
– Providing constructive feedback and recognizing effort
– Creating a non-judgmental environment where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities
– Actively listening to team members and promptly addressing their concerns
- Can psychological safety be measured?
Yes, psychological safety can be measured through surveys and assessments that evaluate team members’ perceptions of their ability to speak up, take risks, and express themselves without fear of negative consequences. Tools such as the Psychological Safety Index, developed by Amy Edmondson, are often used for this purpose.
- How long does it take to develop psychological safety in a team?
Developing psychological safety is an ongoing process that can take weeks or months, depending on the team’s starting point and the consistency of its efforts. It requires a continuous commitment from leaders and team members to maintain and foster a safe environment.
- What should I do if my team lacks psychological safety? If psychological safety is lacking, start by:
– Addressing any existing problems or conflicts transparently and respectfully
– Encouraging open dialogue and active listening
– Establishing clear norms and expectations for respectful behavior
– Providing training in communication, empathy, and conflict resolution
– Consistently modeling and reinforcing behaviors that promote psychological safety
- Can psychological safety coexist with high performance expectations?
Absolutely. Psychological safety and high performance are complementary. When team members feel safe to take risks and be themselves, they are more likely to be engaged, motivated, and committed to achieving high standards. It’s about balancing support and challenge, creating an environment where people can develop their abilities knowing they have support.
- Is psychological safety important only in certain sectors or teams?
Psychological safety is important in all sectors and teams, whether in healthcare, technology, education, or any other field. Any team that values innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement can benefit from a psychologically safe environment. This is especially crucial in high-risk environments where the cost of mistakes can be significant, such as aviation, healthcare, and finance.
By answering these frequently asked questions, you can better understand psychological safety and how to foster it within your team, creating a more open, collaborative, and high-performing environment.
Psychological Safety: The Foundation of High-Performing Teams
The following contribution comes from the NFP portal, which describes itself as follows: NFP is an Aon company specializing in people and insurance risk management, creating sustainable solutions for organizations and employees, both locally and internationally.
Headquartered in the United States, we have rapidly expanded into the UK and Ireland since 2016, offering our range of support and specialized solutions to large corporations, SMEs, and individuals in need, regardless of their industry. Leveraging our expertise in technology, consulting, and brokerage, we offer specialized services including commercial insurance, employee benefits, HR, and health and safety, delivering long-term strategic value to our clients and guiding organizations and their employees toward success. Our «People First» philosophy is the foundation of everything we do. This applies not only to our employees but also to you, our partners, and the people who help you grow.
This article is by Olly Deasy, People Development Partner
With over 20 years of experience working with high-performing teams in sports, business, and education, Oliver brings a deep understanding of the factors that drive success in dynamic and demanding environments. For the past five years, he has worked as a consultant, helping organizations unlock the potential of their people through customized strategies that enhance collaboration, resilience, and performance.
Oliver’s passion lies in human performance and the science behind how teams work together. His insights into what makes teams excel, whether in the boardroom or on the field, help leaders create cultures of trust, clarity, and shared purpose. At NFP, he supports clients in building high-performing teams that thrive under pressure and deliver sustainable results.
This article explores why psychological safety is not just a cultural ideal, but a strategic necessity. It highlights the latest research, debunks common misconceptions, and offers practical methods for building high-performing, high-trust teams.
Discover why psychological safety is crucial for transparency, innovation, and resilience in high-performing teams.
Understand the misconception that high-performing teams make more mistakes and the reality that they report them more readily due to a culture of trust.
Discover practical strategies for developing psychological safety in your organization, fostering greater collaboration, learning, and long-term success.
Psychological Safety: Changing Our Understanding of High Performance
It is often mistakenly believed that high-performing teams make more mistakes than others. The reality, uncovered by Harvard professor Amy Edmondson, tells a different story: high-performing teams don’t make more mistakes; they simply report more mistakes.
This distinction is compelling. It points directly to the presence of psychological safety: an environment where employees feel safe enough to speak up, admit mistakes, offer new ideas, and challenge the status quo without fear of ridicule or retaliation.
Instead of hiding failures, these teams identify them early, enabling faster learning, better decision-making, and higher overall performance. Psychological safety is not a side benefit, but a fundamental element of organizational success.
Understanding Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is the shared belief that a team environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. Introduced by Amy Edmondson in her seminal 1999 research, it challenges traditional assumptions about workplace dynamics. In psychologically safe workplaces, people feel:
Safe to express their concerns
Empowered to ask for help
Comfortable to offer dissenting opinions
Without psychological safety, fear stifles innovation.
Mistakes are hidden, questions go unasked, and creativity is drained. As Edmondson states in *The Fearless Organization*, psychological safety is essential for organizations seeking to thrive in complexity and uncertainty.
Key statistic: A 2024 McKinsey survey revealed that only 26% of employees believe they work in a psychologically safe environment, reinforcing its rarity and value.
The high cost of low psychological safety: When psychological safety is lacking, the costs are high:
Missed opportunities: Employees withhold valuable ideas and perspectives.
Reduced innovation: Fear discourages experimentation and risk-taking.
Higher turnover: Lack of trust drives talent away.
Research shows that teams with high psychological safety are 27% more likely to report higher performance, 50% more likely to retain top talent, and 76% more likely to engage in strong collaboration practices (source: Google’s Project Aristotle, 2022).
When people don’t feel safe to express themselves, the entire organization’s capacity for growth, resilience, and adaptation is compromised.
Building a Psychologically Safe Workplace
Organizations that want to build sustainable high performance must prioritize psychological safety. Key strategies include:
Modeling vulnerability: Leaders should openly admit their mistakes and invite feedback.
Fostering curiosity: Framing questions and challenges as learning opportunities, not threats.
Rewarding voiced opinions: Publicly acknowledging those who raise concerns or share ideas.
Addressing breaches promptly: Acting decisively when trust-eroding behaviors occur.
As Edmondson points out, psychological safety isn’t about being «nice» all the time. It’s about creating an environment where difficult questions and truths can be shared respectfully and productively.
Organizational Impact: Why Psychological Safety Matters
The benefits of cultivating psychological safety are profound:
Faster Innovation: Teams can experiment, fail safely, and iterate quickly.
Greater Engagement: Employees are more likely to invest energy and creativity when they feel safe.
Greater Agility: Organizations can adapt more quickly when communication is open and honest.
Better Decision-Making: Diverse perspectives emerge, leading to richer discussions and smarter outcomes.
Companies that integrate psychological safety into their culture position themselves for long-term success, resilience, and people-centered leadership.
Conclusion: Psychological Safety as a Strategic Imperative
Psychological safety is not «desirable» but a strategic necessity for organizations seeking lasting success.
By learning from Amy Edmondson’s research and embracing the principles of openness, respect, and inclusion, companies can unlock the full potential of their teams. In a world where adaptability and innovation are fundamental, creating a culture where everyone feels safe to express themselves is not only beneficial, but essential.
Psychological Safety and Employee Trust in Teams
The following contribution comes from the Learnerring portal, which describes itself as follows: Welcome to Learnerring, your trusted platform for professional development training. We empower individuals, professionals, and organizations to thrive in today’s competitive world. As a leading provider of training in interpersonal and business skills, our mission is to connect knowledge with practical application.
Whether you want to strengthen your leadership, improve your communication, or gain technical expertise, Learnerring offers structured learning paths to help you achieve success. Furthermore, our programs are designed to deliver measurable results, ensuring that every learner gains the confidence needed to grow.
Author: The team
Employee psychological safety and trust are no longer superficial concepts; they are fundamental skills for employee engagement that determine whether teams communicate, collaborate, and perform, or quietly disengage.
Psychological safety is the shared belief that «I can ask questions, share concerns, or admit mistakes without being judged or punished.»
Employee trust is the confidence that leaders and colleagues will act fairly, honestly, and consistently.
Psychological Safety and Employee Trust in Teams
Together, they directly influence employee engagement and performance. Teams that feel safe and trust their leaders contribute more ideas, solve problems faster, and are more resilient in high-change environments.
Forbes research on high-performing teams emphasizes that psychological safety is a key driver of team performance, as it facilitates moderate risk-taking, creativity, and open communication.
For HR and Learning & Development, this makes psychological safety and trust fundamental to leadership communication: how leaders listen, share context, and respond when things go wrong. If you’re designing an engagement strategy, both should be at the core of your roadmap, along with your broader program, such as Employee Engagement Training: A Comprehensive Guide for HR and Managers.
With this foundation, we can now first analyze psychological safety and then explore how trust, feedback, and leadership behavior sustain engagement over time.
Understanding Psychological Safety at Work
Essentially, psychological safety means that employees can speak up without fear of ridicule, blame, or damage to their careers. In a psychologically safe team:
People can say «I don’t understand» without feeling uncomfortable.
Mistakes are treated as learning data, not personal failures.
Less experienced employees can question the decisions of more experienced employees.
Harvard professor Amy Edmondson defined psychological safety as the shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking and showed that it strongly predicts team learning and performance.
Recent summaries of the CIPD evidence review on trust and psychological safety reinforce this: psychologically safe environments are linked to better team behaviors, stronger relationships, and improved organizational performance.
In practice, psychological safety manifests itself in small moments:
A team member points out a potential risk before a pitch.
Someone who points out that a deadline is unrealistic, instead of silently burning out.
A new employee who challenges «the way we’ve always done things» without resistance.
When this kind of openness becomes the norm, people contribute more fully, and that’s where trust begins to reinforce safety and turn it into sustained commitment.
Why Trust Is the Foundation of Employee Engagement
If psychological safety is «Can I speak up?», trust is «Do I believe the people around me will respond fairly when I do?»
Employees become more deeply engaged when they trust that:
Leaders are honest about what’s happening.
Workloads, recognition, and opportunities are distributed fairly.
Your contributions won’t be used against you later. From an engagement perspective, trust impacts:
Employee turnover: Organizations with high trust experience fewer voluntary departures and fewer quiet resignations.
Collaboration: People are more willing to share information and help each other across teams.
Innovation: Employees are more willing to propose new ideas and challenge weak ones.
Gallup data consistently shows that employees who feel their opinions matter are significantly more engaged in innovation initiatives. hr.gmu.edu
These results are reflected in the Employee Engagement Index and other HR metrics such as eNPS, internal mobility, and performance reviews over time.
When trust is lacking, people stop asking questions, questioning decisions, and ultimately, caring. This erosion first manifests as subtle behavioral signs, especially in how teams communicate on a daily basis.
Signs of Low Psychological Safety in Teams
Low psychological safety rarely begins with a dramatic conflict. Instead, it creeps in quietly through everyday behaviors such as:
Silent meetings: The same two or three people do all the talking; everyone else nods but rarely contributes. Fear of mistakes: Employees triple-check everything, avoid risks, and hide minor errors.
Lack of feedback: Team members don’t ask for or offer feedback because «it doesn’t matter» or «it’s risky.»
Superficial agreement: People agree in meetings and then disagree privately via chat or email.
Minimal upward communication: Concerns about workload, processes, or ethics are never escalated to management. A recent Harvard Business analysis also highlights psychological safety as the «hidden engine» of innovation; when employees fear embarrassment or retaliation, they stop raising issues that could prevent failure or drive transformation.
Underlying all these symptoms is a common root cause: a lack of communication. People don’t feel safe or worthy of speaking up, so they withdraw.
Rebuilding that safety begins with what leaders say and do, especially their transparency.
Building Trust Through Transparent Leadership
Trust isn’t built with grand speeches; it’s built through consistent and transparent leadership.
Building Trust Through Transparent Leadership
Employees are more likely to trust leaders who:
Are honest about uncertainty: “We don’t have all the answers yet, but here’s what we know.”
Show vulnerability: Acknowledge their mistakes instead of hiding them.
Explain the “why”: Connect decisions to values, strategy, and data.
Invite challenge: Sincerely solicit input and don’t punish disagreement.
Deliver: Do what they promise or explain why they can’t.
Leadership skill is inseparable from employee trust: How leaders communicate, react to bad news, and model their behavior teaches the team what is “really safe” to say.
When leaders are transparent, employees feel less need to protect themselves and have more energy to focus on the work that matters.
For a deeper exploration of how everyday leadership communication builds trust, see “Leadership Communication: How Managers Build Trust Every Day.” Once this trust begins to take root, the next step is a feedback culture that reinforces it.
How a Feedback Culture Fosters Psychological Safety
A strong feedback culture makes trust and safety a daily practice. Feedback isn’t just a performance tool; it’s a signal that:
«You’re seen.»
«Your work matters.»
«You can grow here.»
In psychologically safe teams, feedback manifests itself in the following ways:
Regular recognition: Specific and timely praise for behaviors aligned with values and objectives.
Two-way performance conversations: Employees can also share what they need from their managers.
Clear and constructive criticism: Focused on behaviors and processes, not personal attacks.
Peer feedback: Normalized, not awkward or infrequent. Gallup reveals that 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback last week are fully engaged, demonstrating how feedback directly boosts motivation and performance.
On the systems side, feedback tools are also important. Statista data on organizations in the Netherlands shows that the top reasons for using online feedback tools include increasing employee engagement (28%) and reducing barriers to giving and receiving feedback, underscoring the link between structured feedback and cultural change.
When feedback is:
Frequent
Fair
Future-focused
…it becomes a builder of trust rather than a threat.
For practical frameworks and models, see
Recognition and Feedback Models: Transforming Praise into Performance.
However, feedback alone is not enough; how managers deliver it depends largely on their emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence and the Role of Managers
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions—both one’s own and those of others. For managers, EI makes the difference between feedback that empowers people and feedback that holds them back.
Managers with high EI:
Actively listen: They pay full attention, paraphrase, and check for understanding.
Show empathy: They acknowledge pressure, context, and personal circumstances.
Remain impartial and calm: Even during conflict or under stress.
They adapt their communication: They know some employees need candor, others need more context.
They detect early signs of disengagement and proactively stay informed before the disconnect worsens. A high level of EQ is what enables these behaviors: without it, even well-intentioned feedback can come across as harsh, unfair, or insecure.
When managers combine emotional intelligence with structured feedback and transparent communication, they become culture creators, not just task managers.
This is where structured learning platforms like Learnerring come in, making these skills teachable and scalable.
How Learnerring Helps Create Psychologically Safe Teams
Psychological safety and trust aren’t created in a single workshop; they’re built through continuous skills development, especially for managers and team leaders. Learnerring helps organizations achieve this in a structured and measurable way.
Through programs focused on Employee Engagement, leadership communication, and manager development, Learnerring helps teams:
Develop key behaviors for engagement (listening, acknowledging, following up).
Strengthen leadership communication so messages are clear, honest, and human.
Develop emotional intelligence in managers through reflection, practice, and feedback. Integrate feedback rituals into one-on-one meetings, team meetings, and project reviews.
Align daily leadership behavior with engagement goals and HR metrics.
When learning is directly linked to real-world workplace conversations—how a manager responds to a mistake and how a leader announces changes—psychological safety becomes an integral part of how the organization functions, not just a printed value.
Conclusion: Psychological safety, trust, and feedback are not three separate initiatives, but a connected system that underpins employee engagement:
Psychological safety allows people to express themselves.
Trust in leadership convinces them that speaking up is worthwhile.
Feedback and recognition demonstrate that their voice leads to learning, growth, and fair outcomes.
For business and HR leaders, the way forward is clear:
Invest in employee engagement skills.
Train managers in leadership communication and emotional intelligence.
Develop systems that integrate feedback and recognition into daily work.
Competitive advantage
If implemented consistently, psychological safety ceases to be a concept and becomes a competitive advantage embedded in how teams think, communicate, and perform.
Trust and Psychological Safety: The Oxygen of Teams
The following contribution comes from The Deliberate Leader website, which defines itself as follows:
The Deliberate Leader
A framework for intentional, sustainable, and connected leadership.
Leadership isn’t just about achieving results. It’s about doing so with intention, clarity, and impact. The Deliberate Leader is a leadership development program designed to support leaders in becoming purposeful decision-makers who inspire, empower, and drive lasting success.
Deliberate leadership is about acting with intention, with a balanced focus on the energy you bring, the relationships you cultivate, and the performance you drive.
This is authored by Rita Cincotta, founder and CEO of The Deliberate Leader, a leadership development practice dedicated to helping leaders cultivate intentionality, clarity, and impact in their leadership. She is a professional with extensive experience in leadership development, working as a facilitator, speaker, coach, author, and non-executive board member. With over two decades of experience, Rita has held executive positions across diverse industries and now provides consulting services in the technology, healthcare, financial services, senior care, media and advertising, nonprofit, e-commerce, consumer staples, and higher education sectors.
Her journey into intentional leadership began with a career in Human Resources, where she held leadership roles guiding teams through complex transformations. Through these experiences, she witnessed firsthand the impact of intentional leadership: how clarity, purpose, and authenticity shape not only leaders but entire organizational cultures. Recognizing a gap in how leadership was being approached, she transitioned from corporate leadership to coaching, training, and teaching to help others lead with greater intention and impact. Since 2018, she has been dedicated to equipping leaders with the tools to cultivate healthy, high-performing teams.
Trust is the lifeblood of teams. Without it, people withdraw, hide mistakes, and disengage. Even when leaders say, “We learn from our mistakes here,” people don’t take risks unless their actions consistently back it up. Psychological safety is what allows trust to move from words to everyday behavior.
At The Deliberate Leader, this lack of psychological safety is one of the most common barriers we see hindering the development of high-performing teams. When trust is low, learning slows, innovation stagnates, and performance suffers, regardless of talent.
Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety in teams shows that it’s the primary driver of learning and innovation. Google’s Project Aristotle reinforced this idea, finding that top-performing teams shared one defining characteristic: a climate where people felt safe to speak honestly.
Psychological safety is about courage, not comfort.
This is the truth. Psychological safety isn’t about making things easy or avoiding challenges. It’s about courage.
It is the courage to admit mistakes without fear of blame.
It is the courage to share incomplete ideas.
It is the courage to question assumptions and speak up when something doesn’t seem right.
Teams with high psychological safety don’t shirk responsibility. They embrace it more openly because trust creates the conditions for honest dialogue.
What leaders can do to build trust
Leaders play a critical role in developing psychological safety. Small, consistent behaviors matter more than grand pronouncements.
Admit your own mistakes.
When leaders model vulnerability, they show that learning matters more than perfection.
Invite feedback and listen.
Soliciting input is only effective when people see that it’s taken seriously. This is a critical skill developed through effective leadership coaching.
Respond calmly, even in difficult situations.
How leaders react under pressure determines whether people will speak up next time. What teams can do to strengthen psychological safety
Psychological safety isn’t built by leaders alone.
Teams reinforce it together through everyday interactions.
Normalize vulnerability.
Make it acceptable to say «I don’t know» or «I need help.»
Support each other by taking risks.
Learning happens when teams feel supported, not exposed.
Speak openly. Honest conversations build trust when they are based on respect and a shared purpose, a key aspect of deliberate team coaching development.
Why Trust and Psychological Safety Matter for Team Performance
When silence is louder than voices on your team, it’s a red flag. Trust and psychological safety aren’t something you can wish for. They are the foundation of sustainable performance.
Teams that feel safe to speak up adapt faster, learn faster, and perform more consistently, especially in complex or uncertain environments.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is psychological safety in teams?
Psychological safety is the belief that it is safe to speak up, make mistakes, and share ideas without fear of shame or punishment.
Why is trust important for team performance?
Trust facilitates open communication, faster learning, and stronger collaboration—all essential for high-performing teams.
How can leaders improve psychological safety?
Leaders enhance safety by modeling vulnerability, accepting feedback, responding calmly, and reinforcing respectful challenges.
Ready to build high-trust, high-performing teams?
If you want to create a team culture where trust drives innovation and performance, explore the Leader as Coach Virtual Program, a proven path to building courageous, high-trust teams through practical tools and real-world application.
On-demand masterclasses and live support for six weeks.
👉 Register now for the October intake or contact us to discuss whether it’s the right fit for your team.
Psychological Safety at Work: The Hidden Factor of High-Performing Teams
The following contribution comes from the HR Training Classes portal, founded by Elga Lejarza, who describes herself as follows: I’m Elga Lejarza, and I’m so glad you’re here. With over 30 years of experience in human resources, from regulatory compliance and leadership to training and coaching, I created HRTrainingClasses.com to help HR professionals like you expand your knowledge, gain confidence, and achieve your goals.
Whether you’re preparing for your SHRM or HRCI certification, want to stay up-to-date with new laws, or simply hone your skills, you’re in the right place. Our courses are designed with practical, real-world applications, and our community is here to support you every step of the way.
We offer live and on-demand HR classes, free webinars, and constantly updated content to reflect the latest HR trends and regulations.
What if the secret to greater engagement, stronger collaboration, and groundbreaking innovation lay not in more meetings, more perks, or more technology, but simply in a sense of safety?
In today’s fast-paced, high-pressure work environments, psychological safety has become one of the most vital, yet most overlooked, ingredients for success. It’s not about being soft or avoiding conflict; it’s about building trust, fostering contribution, and creating a culture where people feel safe to express their ideas without fear of humiliation or punishment.
What is Psychological Safety?
Psychological safety refers to an individual’s perception that they can express ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes without being punished or humiliated. Coined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, the concept emphasizes interpersonal risk-taking. In a psychologically safe environment, people are not only allowed but encouraged to show vulnerability, challenge the status quo, and fully contribute.
The Relationship Between Psychological Safety and Team Performance
When psychological safety is high, teams communicate more openly, share feedback more constructively, and collaborate more effectively.
Google’s well-known “Project Aristotle” found that psychological safety was the strongest predictor of team success, more so than experience, skill level, or even the number of university degrees. It turns out that when people feel safe, they are more likely to take risks, admit mistakes promptly, and push their ideas forward, leading to better decisions and faster innovation.
Why It Matters in the Modern Workplace
Today’s workplace is diverse, global, and often virtual. It brings together people with different backgrounds, communication styles, and worldviews. Without psychological safety, fear takes root: fear of being judged, misunderstood, or penalized. And where fear exists, creativity dies. Psychological safety creates space for inclusion, learning, and continuous improvement. It not only benefits the culture, but it’s essential for performance.
Psychological Safety vs. Comfort Zones
It’s important to clarify: psychological safety doesn’t mean avoiding discomfort. It doesn’t mean lowering standards or sugarcoating tough feedback.
Instead, it means that people feel supported enough to take on challenges and step outside their comfort zone because they know they won’t be ridiculed for failing or asking questions. It’s about having difficult conversations without toxic consequences.
How Psychological Safety Promotes Inclusion and Equity
For marginalized employees, psychological safety is especially crucial. It allows them to fully express their identity at work without fear of exclusion.
It encourages underrepresented voices to contribute, challenge ideas, and participate in leadership conversations. In inclusive workplaces, psychological safety is not just desirable, it’s essential.
Key Behaviors That Strengthen Psychological Safety
How is psychological safety built? It’s not an abstract concept; it’s created through consistent and observable behaviors:
Active listening without interruption.
Admitting mistakes as a leader.
Soliciting input and genuinely considering it.
Responding to concerns without becoming defensive.
Showing appreciation for all contributions, not just the loudest voices.
These actions create a ripple effect. When leaders model psychological safety, teams adopt it. When teams practice it, organizations are transformed.
What Undermines Psychological Safety
Just as it can be built, psychological safety can be quickly eroded. Dismissing ideas, responding with sarcasm, punishing failures, or ignoring others can cause lasting damage. Even unintentional microaggressions or passive-aggressive comments can cause employees to shut down, disengage, or withdraw altogether. Once trust is broken, rebuilding it takes time, intentionality, and humility.
Creating a Culture of Accountability and Safety
Contrary to popular belief, psychological safety and accountability are not at odds. In fact, they go hand in hand. High-performing teams thrive in environments where people feel safe to take ownership, speak openly, and learn from mistakes. Leaders can, and should, expect excellence while still fostering safety. The key is respectful communication, clear expectations, and mutual trust.
The Role of HR and Leadership
HR professionals and leaders are uniquely positioned to promote psychological safety at all levels of the organization. This includes:
Training managers in empathetic leadership.
Incorporating psychological safety into performance reviews.
Modeling vulnerability and openness.
Creating spaces for honest feedback and reflection.
Addressing behaviors that undermine safety, regardless of their source.
A psychologically safe workplace isn’t built overnight, but it can be intentionally cultivated through ongoing effort, communication, and leadership alignment.
Psychological safety isn’t just a «soft skill.» It’s a business imperative. It drives innovation, reduces employee turnover, strengthens inclusion, and fosters sustainable performance. In a world where adaptability and trust are the new keys to success, organizations that prioritize psychological safety will have a competitive advantage. It’s time to lead with empathy, listen attentively, and build cultures where every voice truly matters.
Why Psychological Safety at Work Is the Secret to High-Performing Teams
The following contribution comes from the Zestfor portal, which defines itself as follows: Zestfor exists to drive the growth and development of managers, leaders, and teams working in complex and constantly evolving industries. With a strong background in the science and technology sectors, we understand the unique challenges our clients face and design our training solutions to address them head-on.
Behind every course we deliver is a passionate team, committed to helping people develop their potential, boost their performance, and lead with confidence. Meet the people who make Zestfor a reality.
Author: The Team
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Why Psychological Safety at Work Is the Secret to High-Performing Teams
Leadership that fosters psychological safety at work with engaged and diverse team members
You’ve hired a brilliant team, set realistic yet ambitious goals, and established efficient processes—why isn’t performance taking off?
Your team may not feel safe enough to speak up,
take risks, or make mistakes. In today’s high-stakes environments, especially in the science, technology, and pharmaceutical sectors, psychological safety at work is what drives innovation, confidence, and sustained high performance.
I’d like to share a story that you might find helpful.
No one likes to deliver bad news to their boss. But that’s exactly what I had to do when a project I championed failed. I had invested time and energy in it, and I convinced others to do the same. I expected frustration or tough questions. Instead, my manager asked me something simple: «What did you learn?» That moment changed everything. I now realize that they weren’t just being kind; they were creating an environment where our high-performing team could thrive.
That’s the power of psychological safety at work. It turns setbacks into learning… and learning into growth.
What is psychological safety at work? Coined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson,¹ psychological safety is the shared belief that it is safe to take interpersonal risks. In practice, this means that employees can speak up, ask questions, challenge ideas, and admit mistakes without fear of punishment or ridicule. It is a «felt permission for candor.»
Edmondson was the first to observe this dynamic in medical teams: those who reported more errors actually performed better, not because they made more mistakes, but because they reported them, which led to faster learning and better outcomes.
Psychological safety is not the same as psychological health, although the two are related. Psychological health refers to individual well-being; psychological safety refers to the team environment. A safe team fosters well-being. A toxic team undermines it.
Psychological Safety Psychological Health
It refers to the context in which a person interacts with others.
It refers to a person’s internal state of well-being. Trust, Open communication, Mutual respect, Emotional stability, Resilience, Coping skills.
Why it matters for high-performing teams:
According to A Great Place to Work², there are six key signs that your workplace is psychologically unsafe:
❌ Projects take too long to implement
❌ People don’t ask questions or share ideas
❌ Rumors are rampant
❌ High absenteeism
❌ High presenteeism
❌ High turnover
Psychological safety drives innovation, trust, and continuous improvement. Google’s Project Aristotle³ demonstrated that it is the primary driver of team effectiveness, even more important than technical skill.
Teams with high psychological safety are:
✔ More engaged, creative, and resilient
✔ Better at solving complex problems
✔ Able to learn faster from failures
✔ Prepared to thrive in volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments
Edmondson notes: “Moving from traditional management to managing in a VUCA world requires adopting a new mindset. Today’s world demands cross-functional and dynamic teams.”
How can you tell if your team has psychological safety?
Edmondson developed a simple 11-question diagnostic tool⁴ to assess a team’s psychological safety. These questions reveal the everyday dynamics that influence learning, risk-taking, and honest communication:
Part 1: Individual Safety
In this team, it is easy to discuss difficult topics and problems.
I will not face retaliation or criticism if I admit a mistake.
It is easy to ask a team member for help. I feel confident offering new ideas, even if they aren’t fully developed plans.
Part 2: Respect in the Team
In this team, people are accepted for being different.
My colleagues welcome my ideas and give them time and attention.
Members of this team could easily describe the value of each other’s contributions.
Part 3: Team Learning
In this team, we discuss mistakes and ways to improve work processes.
We take the time to find new ways to improve work processes.
Members of this team raise concerns about team plans or decisions.
We try to uncover our underlying assumptions and look for counterarguments on the topics under discussion.
These questions not only measure sentiment but also reflect the team’s shared norms and culture. Pay attention not only to average scores but also to the dispersion of responses among individuals. Large gaps could indicate that safety is not experienced consistently.
Edmondson reminds us: «Psychological safety is not an individual trait. It is an emergent property of the group.»
Four Elements of Psychological Safety
According to Edmondson, a psychologically safe team has:
Willingness to help
Inclusion and diversity
A healthy attitude toward risk and failure
Open and frank communication
These are the foundations of high-performing agile teams. If you don’t know how to lead difficult conversations, read our expert article here.
How Insights Discovery® drives high performance
At Zestfor, we integrate Insights Discovery®, a powerful psychometric tool, to build trust, empathy, and collaboration. It helps teams understand individual differences and communication preferences, all essential for high-performing teams.
An Insights Discovery workshop helps teams:
Encourage open communication: Safety eliminates the fear of sharing unconventional ideas, allowing diverse perspectives to influence decisions.
Create innovation: Safe environments encourage risk-taking and creativity.
Improve problem-solving: Constructive conflict and frank discussion lead to better solutions. Increases engagement and collaboration: People who feel valued contribute more and work together effectively.
Reveals hidden skills and potential: Safety allows people to share strengths that might otherwise go unnoticed.
How Insights Discovery strengthens psychological safety:
Common language: Insights Discovery provides a shared vocabulary for communication and behavior, reducing misunderstandings.
Self-awareness and empathy: It helps people understand their own preferences and those of others, improving relationships.
Enhanced team dynamics: Insight helps teams resolve conflict, improve inclusion, and build trust—all crucial for psychological safety.
How Leaders Build High-Performing Teams
Here are five powerful leadership behaviors:
Be vulnerable. Admit when you don’t have all the answers. Share mistakes. Model learning.
Be transparent. Say what you know, what you don’t know, and how you will resolve it. Credibility builds trust.
Be Fair. Audit processes, promotions, and salaries. Ensure that hybrid team members feel equally valued.
Be Curious. Ask questions, challenge assumptions, and encourage dialogue. Dissent is valuable.
Be Reasonable. Respect boundaries and manage workload. Psychological safety is affected by unrealistic expectations.
5 Ways to Build Psychological Safety in the Workplace
Building psychological safety for a high-performing team is an ongoing process. According to Harvard Business School⁵, there are five evidence-based steps:
- Talk about it and prioritize it. Start by considering psychological safety a strategic priority. As Edmondson says, “Many people think it’s about feeling comfortable all the time. Anything difficult to achieve requires feeling uncomfortable along the way.”
- Go beyond impression management. Employees often stay silent to avoid appearing incompetent or negative. Reframe risk-taking as a team necessity:
Not every idea will be implemented, but every idea will be considered.
Disagreement is welcome when it leads to the best solution.
Mistakes are valuable for collective learning.
- Use the Psychological Safety Scale. Regularly measure team perceptions using Edmondson’s survey and track improvements over time.
- Promote open dialogue (Jazz Dialogues)
Embrace Jazz Dialogues, where team members listen more, build on each other’s contributions, and respond to ideas as they arise. This fosters collective commitment and innovation.
- Continuously reassess and adjust
Like physical strength, psychological safety requires maintenance. Consult with your team, gather feedback, and adapt leadership behaviors to maintain a high level of safety.
Our «Harnessing the Power of Team in Uncertainty and Change» program is especially popular with clients operating in VUCA environments. It helps teams bond, build trust, and focus on collective resilience and adaptability.
Misconceptions to avoid:
«It’s about being nice.»
Workplaces can be polite but still lack candor. Safety is based on constructive challenge, not avoiding discomfort.
«You should feel comfortable.»
True learning and growth require discomfort, but without fear of blame or judgment.
Psychological safety in the workplace is not just desirable; it’s the foundation of high performance, especially in dynamic, cross-functional, and hybrid teams.
Why Psychological Safety Is the Secret Weapon of High-Performing Teams
The following contribution comes from The Influence Journal, which describes itself as follows: The Influence Journal is for leaders who reflect deeply, lead decisively, and refuse to settle for superficial strategies.
We explore the psychology of leadership, the mechanisms of influence, and the hidden dynamics behind trust, clarity, and performance. Each article is designed to stand out, perspective-based, shaped by experience, and action-oriented.
This is not a resource for tricks, tips, or lectures.
It is a resource for true leaders—executives, entrepreneurs, and high-performing professionals—who want to lead with greater depth, conviction, and influence than ever before.
The article is written by the team.
And why most leaders unknowingly destroy it.
Discover why psychological safety is the top predictor of team performance and how to build it without sacrificing standards, speed, or trust.
The Hidden Factor Behind Team Excellence
In the early 2010s, Google launched an internal research initiative to discover what made some of its teams outperform others. The project, eventually called Project Aristotle, analyzed more than 180 of the company’s teams. Researchers expected to find that the best teams shared common traits: high IQs, competent managers, similar work styles, or complementary skills.
They were wrong.
None of those variables predicted team effectiveness. The most important factor?
Psychological safety: the shared belief that a team is safe for taking interpersonal risks.
On the highest-performing teams, people felt free to speak up, admit mistakes, challenge each other, and offer bold ideas. On the lowest-performing teams, people held back, not because of a lack of intelligence or commitment, but because they didn’t feel safe.
Since then, psychological safety has become a buzzword in business leadership circles. But, like most buzzwords, it’s often misunderstood. It’s mistaken for friendliness, weakness, or a lack of accountability. In reality, it’s one of the most strategically vital conditions for innovation, speed, and trust within high-performing organizations.
The problem? Most leaders, despite their good intentions, inadvertently undermine psychological safety.
What exactly is psychological safety?
The term was coined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, who studied medical teams in high-risk hospital settings. In one study, she found that the most effective teams reported more errors than average teams. At first, this seemed like a contradiction: Why were the best teams making more mistakes?
They weren’t. They were simply more honest about it.
This perspective is fundamental to psychological safety: it’s not about feeling comfortable, but about being true to yourself. It means that people believe they can be themselves, express themselves, and take risks without being punished, humiliated, or ignored.
When psychological safety is high:
People ask tough questions.
They share ideas early, before they’re polished.
They admit when they’re stuck or unsure.
They challenge the collective thinking without being labeled difficult.
They recover quickly from mistakes instead of covering them up.
A recent meta-analysis published in the Journal of Applied Psychology
found that psychological safety was positively associated with learning, creativity, engagement, and job satisfaction, and negatively associated with burnout and turnover intentions. The research is clear: when safety increases, performance improves.
Psychological safety is not a weakness. It’s a foundation. Without it, no feedback loop can be trusted, and no innovation can scale.
A Personal Story: When I Saw Psychological Safety Disappear
Years ago, I worked under a leader who, by all external indicators, seemed exceptional. He was insightful, visionary, and incredibly productive. He was also an outstanding recruiter. Our team was dynamic, well-funded, and full of talented people. In theory, it should have been a dream team.
But over time, something changed.
Meetings became quieter. Feedback dried up. Ideas no longer flowed as they once did.
At first, I thought it was just the pressure of deadlines. But over time, I realized that we weren’t being pressured. We were being silenced.
It wasn’t obvious. No one was being yelled at or publicly humiliated. But the atmosphere had become subtly performative. We all sensed it: if your idea wasn’t irrefutable, it wasn’t welcome. If your opinion diverged too much, you would pay a relational price. If you made a mistake, you could expect it to be remembered longer than it should have been.
So we adapted. We spoke less. We filtered. We only contributed polished work.
And creativity was stifled in that silence.
I remember sitting in a meeting one day and thinking, “I know we’re headed for the wrong decision, but I don’t feel confident enough to say so.” And no one else felt that way.
That moment changed my understanding of leadership.
The real danger of low psychological safety
isn’t that people rebel. It’s that they silently obey while internally disengaging. Talent isn’t lost overnight; voice, honesty, and the ability to take risks are lost. And, over time, that loss is reflected in every area of the organization.
That experience marked me. It transformed the way I lead now, not because I’m always right, but because I’ve experienced what happens when leaders unwittingly turn high-trust teams into high-performance prisons.
And I continue to see this problem arise where it should have been avoided. A friend and colleague of mine—the kind of talented, high-energy person most companies dream of having—just left her job to move to another organization. The suddenness of the move caught my attention. How could her company let someone like that go, especially when I’m sure her new team already sees her as a huge success? When she told me why, I wasn’t surprised. Her workplace had become so performance-driven that she no longer felt secure enough to stay.
Why Psychological Safety Boosts Performance
Let’s move beyond theory and look at the data.
Google’s Project Aristotle is the most cited study, but it’s not the only one. A McKinsey & Company study shows that teams with high psychological safety are 76% more engaged, 50% more productive, and 74% less likely to leave their jobs. In the healthcare sector, Edmondson’s research revealed that safe environments were directly linked to fewer medical errors and faster recovery times for patients.
A study published in Harvard Business Review revealed that when psychological safety is high, team members are more willing to contribute ideas, openly discuss problems, and offer solutions, even in high-risk environments.
Why does this happen?
Because psychological safety reduces cognitive load. In environments where people are constantly monitoring how they are perceived, that mental capacity is redirected toward self-protection rather than problem-solving.
Conversely, when teams trust each other, they don’t waste energy on politics or questioning. They act faster. They tell the truth sooner. They solve problems more quickly.
In business terms:
Psychological safety accelerates speed, learning, and execution.
How Most Leaders Unwittingly Destroy Safety
Few leaders realize it and say, «Let’s create a culture of fear today.» But fear seeps in anyway: through subtle habits, unspoken hierarchies, and theatrics.
Here are some of the most common safety-destroying factors:
- The Illusion of Invulnerability
When leaders pretend to have everything under control, they send a clear message: «We don’t talk about weaknesses here.» Teams mimic that behavior. Vulnerability becomes a liability, and trust dissolves.
- Micromanagement in Disguise
Supervision disguised as «attention to detail» communicates one thing: «I don’t trust you.» Even small acts, like rewriting someone’s email or monitoring their every move, undermine autonomy and increase anxiety.
- Shame in meetings
Correcting someone harshly or sarcastically in public may seem like a sign of responsibility, but it’s actually a sign of threat. The lesson learned isn’t «do better.» It’s «don’t speak next time.»
- False Openness
Some leaders ask for feedback, then dismiss it, punish dissent, or ignore uncomfortable truths. Over time, people learn the rules: smile, nod, stay silent.
Even if you think you’re fostering openness, if people don’t feel safe, you’re not.
How to Build Psychological Safety (Without Going Soft)
Creating safety doesn’t mean coddling your team. It means building a culture where people can clearly disagree, fail openly, and bounce back quickly—all without losing credibility or relational fairness.
Here’s a practical framework for building it:
- Set the Tone with Vulnerable Authority
Start with yourself. Share your mistakes, identify your weaknesses, and ask real questions. When leaders model learning, teams follow suit. Vulnerability doesn’t erode authority; it humanizes it.
Try this: At your next meeting, say, «Here’s something I’m still working on as a leader…» and invite others to share the same.
- Set clear expectations for honesty. Tell your team, «Disagreement is not disloyalty.» Make feedback an expectation, not a favor. Frame disagreement as a sign of commitment, not rebellion.
Quote to copy: «Resistance is part of your job. I need your judgment, not just your obedience.»
- Make learning visible. Report on projects, especially those that fail. Identify what worked, what didn’t, and what can be improved. Make these learning cycles public, not private. This destigmatizes mistakes and demonstrates that results can be improved, not hidden.
Create a «Successful Learning» board or a 5-minute Friday ritual: What did we learn this week that we didn’t know on Monday?
- Pay attention to hierarchical drift
If only the voices of managers dominate meetings, or ideas only flow upwards, you’re stifling perspective. Invite interns, frontline staff, and cross-functional colleagues to contribute their ideas from the start. When people see that their contributions shape the future, trust is strengthened.
Practice: Start meetings by inviting junior team members to share first, before the boss speaks.
Final thought: Trust is your true competitive advantage
In today’s workplace, trust isn’t an intangible asset, but a strategic one. It accelerates execution, sharpens collaboration, and creates a culture where truth emerges faster than manipulation.
But trust doesn’t just happen.
It’s engineered.
And psychological safety is the design principle. If you want to build a high-performing team, don’t start with performance metrics. Start with the conditions that make true performance possible.
Build safety. Protect it.
Lead it like it’s your secret weapon, because it is.
Have you seen psychological safety fail on your own team?
What was it like? What was the cost?
Share your thoughts in the comments or share this with someone who’s building a team that deserves better.