I still come across people who misunderstand psychological safety, believing it to be ‘soft and fluffy’, avoiding upsetting people, not creating ripples. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Psychological safety provides the basis for leaning into the tough stuff. It enables us to have the challenging conversations, push back, raise left-field ideas, manage upwards, and give feedback without fear that our work relationships (and our job safety) is in jeopardy.
In this article we’ll explore:
- What psychological safety is
- The benefits of a psychologically safe culture
- Five practical things you can do to develop a psychologically safe workplace
What is psychological safety?
Psychological safety is the shared belief amongst individuals as to whether it is safe to engage in interpersonal risk-taking in the workplace (Edmondson, 1996). Examples include:
- Challenging more senior people
- Giving someone negative feedback
- Putting forward an unusual idea in a team meeting
- Going against majority thinking in a group
- Setting clear boundaries
In a psychologically safe environment, we feel safe to do any of these without fear of being punished, ostracized or penalized. The safer we feel, the more ideas we share, the more we constructively challenge each other, the more feedback we seek. All of these things go toward higher levels of performance.
In his book, The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety, Timothy R Clark suggests the stages are as follows:
- Stage one – feeling included
- Stage two – safe to learn
- Stage three – safe to contribute
- Stage four – safe to challenge
When psychological safety is low or non-existent, we’re likely to see behaviour such as group think and defensive decision making.
Defensive decision making occurs when the decision maker does not choose the decision that is in the best interests of a customer or the organisation. Instead, they choose the one that is less effective or lower risk that protects them in case something goes wrong. The three most common motives for defensive decision making are:
- To avoid blame
- To avoid action
- To avoid change.
Groupthink, also known as bandwagon effect, sees people follow the majority – even if they disagree (Janis, 1982). For example, if a strong personality in the group insists their decision is the right one, other members can easily be persuaded to agree with them. Behaviours we tend to see when there is groupthink include stereotyping others, pressurising dissenters, and ignoring the moral or ethical issues regarding a policy or decision.
DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY – LEADER REFLECTION
Take 10 minutes to reflect and note down your answers to the following questions:
- How well do people in my team readily share knowledge and ideas with each other?
- What have I done to create an environment where people can challenge each other in a constructive way?
- How comfortable am I admitting when I don’t know something? If I’m uncomfortable, what do I think are the root causes of this discomfort?
- How safe do people in my team feel to give me direct and honest feedback? Are there some who feel safer than others? If so, what part have I played in this?
Benefits of psychological safety for performance
Why is it worth our time and effort in developing psychologically safe environments? Aside from mitigating against the dangers of groupthink, there are all sorts of benefits that aid performance. A systematic literature review of 83 studies identified five key benefits:
- Better communication, sharing of knowledge and levels of engagement.
- Openness to learning, including learning from failure.
- More creativity, innovation and ideas.
- More positive employee attitudes, including more commitment to the organisation.
- Increased levels of initiative, such as identifying ways to work around processes that impact performance.
5 strategies that support a psychologically safe workplace
- Destigmatise failure
This doesn’t mean being complacent or letting things slide. After all, there are certain contexts – such as healthcare – where failure might mean death. Rather, this is about creating an environment where energy is put into learning from what went wrong, rather than spending energy on finding who to blame.
One framework that can help us when learning from failure is Gibbs Reflective Cycle. Developed by Professor Graham Gibbs, it sets out a clear, step-by-step approach to reflecting on experiences to gain new insights and identify alternative ways of responding in the future.
An alternative is the After-Action Review. Daniel Coyle talks about this in his book, The Culture Code.The After-Action Review is used by special ops teams, in the armed forces, among others. However, the questions are useful for those of us who work in corporate contexts. I’ve adapted the method to include a Before-Action Review, acting almost like a bookend each side of a decision or action.
2. Develop supportive leadership behaviours
In her book, The Fearless Organization, Professor Amy Edmondson talks about the importance of leader’s role modelling humility and fallibility. In other words, admitting when something you did didn’t work, or something you did wrong. When a leader does this, it signals to the team that it’s okay. This is also about admitting when you don’t know something and asking for others’ help. I remember hearing an anecdote about Barrack Obama. Apparently, early on in his first term as President of the USA, at cabinet meetings he would often turn to those on the outskirts of the room (typically interns) and ask them for their views. This is a powerful reminder that the answers don’t just come from the top table.
Some research suggests that leaders who use a coaching style, who are open, and who are trustworthy and give trust, are more likely to create a psychologically safe culture. In psychology, there is a concept called ‘felt trust’. This is the need to feel trusted by others, particularly management, in order to engage in trusting behaviour such as sharing knowledge and information.
One of the things I help managers with is taking the guesswork out of things, by helping them understand more about each of their team members. We do this through the support and challenge framework, which the manager will use in one-to-ones with each team member. Two important things if using this tool – it’s not a one-off conversation, and it needs to be two-way. Your team members need to understand what kind of support you need from them, and the ‘rules’ for how to challenge you when needed.
DOWNLOAD THE SUPPORT/CHALLENGE TOOL HERE
DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY – LEADERSHIP REFLECTION
Take 10 minutes to reflect on the following questions and note down your answers. What themes do you notice from your answers? What is one action you will take following this activity?
- How do you show people that you trust them?
- What stops you trusting people?
- How can people regain your trust if it has been broken?
- To what extent do you think your team members trust you?
- What one thing could you start doing or do more to clearly show people you trust them?
3. Respond productively to team members’ ideas
When you lead a team, your team will infer all sorts into the things you do and don’t do. Things you say, your facial expressions, who you give the most attention to, who you seem to ignore. The list goes on.
This doesn’t mean you can’t be human – with all the quirks and fallibilities that come with being human – but it does mean you need to be aware, pay attention and work on these.
One simple thing you can do when someone contributes an idea at a team meeting, is to thank them. Another is to ask the person to tell you more, particularly if the idea is only half formed.
4. Develop a process for making difficult decisions
Margaret Heffernan, in her book Wilful Blindness, shares two powerful approaches that help teams and groups navigate difficult decisions. These can be helpful where there are likely to be differences of opinion.
Approach one
This comes from a case study of Unilever, in Nigeria. At an event which brought together middle managers and senior leaders, the aim was to identify how best to raise issues. All the middle managers sat together, figuring out how to raise a difficult issue with the senior leaders. All the senior leaders sat together and were tasked with answering a different question: “How could someone bring this issue to you in a way that you would respond appropriately?”
Answers from the two groups were compared and unsurprisingly, there were some differences in expectations. These were then discussed, worked through, and ground rules agreed for the future.
Approach two
Assign someone to take on the ‘devil’s advocate’ role the next time there is a contentious issue or decision that needs to be made. The Devil’s Advocate has explicit permission to deliberately ask awkward and difficult questions. It’s important that the same person isn’t always assigned this role. The role needs to be assigned to different people each time to avoid falling into conformity. Good questions for the Devil’s Advocate to ask include:
- What information or evidence would significantly change our decision?
- What are the reasons for us not to go ahead with this?
- Who benefits most from this decision?
- Who is harmed in some way by this decision?
- Have we sought the views of those affected? If we haven’t, why have we ignored them?
- Best question: If our assumptions are wrong, what might happen?
A few of my clients have adopted this second approach and have seen a positive difference in the quality of discussion, and the team’s ability to navigate difficult issues without getting defensive or taking offence.
5. Put time and effort into regular team development and team building
Do you have a carefully thought-out team building and team development plan for the year? Or is your approach to team building sporadic? Helping all the people who work in your team understand a bit more about each other facilitates greater levels of familiarity. For example, helping people learn about how each other prefers to work, things that stress them out, things they enjoy etc.
Research suggests that teams who have good relationships, who know and understand each other well, are likely to have higher levels of trust and subsequently, better performance.
DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY
Draft a 12 month plan for your team, focused on team building around things such as communication and other behaviours; and team performance, focused on deliverables. Here’s an example for you to download if you want some inspiration.
Post author: Dr Hayley Lewis. First published on the HALO Psychology website 13 October 2025.
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If you liked this post, you might also like these:
- 12 things you need to understand if you want your team to perform consistently well
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- How to build trust at work
REFERENCES
Heffernan, M. (2019). Wilful blindness: Why we ignore the obvious. London: Simon & Schuster.