Psychological safety isn’t just a feel-good concept—it’s a business imperative.
Research has found that it’s the single most important factor in building successful teams. But psychological safety is often misunderstood. It’s not about avoiding conflict or creating a culture of unchecked positivity. Let’s explore what it truly means and how to cultivate it for a thriving organisation.
What Is Psychological Safety—and What Is It Not?
Psychological safety is the pioneering work of Dr. Amy Edmondson, a Harvard professor who has studied this concept for more than two decades. She defines it as the experience of feeling safe to take interpersonal risks with others.
Psychological safety is about creating a safe environment—not just between two or three close friends, but one where most people can candidly express ideas and share diverse views. It enables individuals to ask difficult questions, admit mistakes, and even confront others while holding them accountable.
Psychological safety is not an end in itself but a means towards excellence, where people bring their full selves to work and contribute the best of what they have to offer. When people strive to do their best, conflict is inevitable. However, psychological safety is not the absence of conflict—it is a space where people can passionately advocate for their ideas, not to suppress or attack others, but to value everyone’s contributions in co-creating solutions. This fosters more effective problem-solving and drives better innovation by incorporating diverse perspectives.
What about you? What does psychological safety mean to you, and what is it not?
How Do You Create a Psychologically Safe Culture in a Top-Down Organization?
The most critical factor in driving cultural change is securing buy-in and commitment from the leadership team.
As the principal consultant, I partnered with an organization to address their top-down culture, which was stifling employee engagement and hindering business performance. By collaborating with the HR team, we presented compelling case studies demonstrating the tangible consequences of a low-psychological-safety environment. We highlighted the internal challenges—employees were reluctant to speak up about client feedback, which directly impacted the organization's ability to deliver quality and timely results.
Recognizing the detrimental effects on business performance, the leadership team became open and committed to change. We facilitated a shared understanding of the importance of psychological safety and developed new ways of working that encouraged open communication and collaboration.
Today, this organization is no longer top-down, and employees feel more comfortable speaking up freely.
What strategies have you found effective in fostering psychological safety?
Psychological safety is not an end in itself but a means towards excellence, where people bring their full selves to work and contribute the best of what they have to offer.
Calvin Yeo
Are You Building or Eroding Psychological Safety at Work?
Google research has identified psychological safety as the most important factor in building an effective team. But how do you know whether you are fostering or eroding psychological safety in your workplace?
People do not judge us based on our intentions; they judge us based on our behaviours. Take a moment to reflect on how you interact with others at work:
- Do you intentionally invite others to share their diverse views, or are you more focused on sharing your own?
- Do you proactively seek feedback, or do you wait for others to initiate it?
- Do you ask for help when needed, or do you prefer to work independently
The practice of actively inviting others creates psychological safety. By demonstrating genuine curiosity and a willingness to understand different points of view, we foster an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and encouraged to contribute freely. What do you do to build psychological safety in your workplace?
Driving Innovation with Psychological Safety
Every organisation wants innovation. How does psychological safety f
uel innovation? I recently heard a definition of innovation as doing things differently or doing different or new things. Yet, many organisations face innovation challenges due to fear barriers. For example, is it safe to bring up new ideas that might seem silly to others, or to highlight gaps and mistakes that need new fixes and changes?
Quoting Dr Amy Edmondson, psychological safety addresses these fear barriers by doing three things:
- Reframing failure.
- Inviting participation.
- Responding productively.
Let me touch on the first area—reframing failure—because failure is such a taboo word in many organisations. This requires a re-understanding of the different types of failure and knowing how to learn well from failure. Furthermore, when we learn from failure, how can we share that with the organisation so others can also benefit?
As I often say, if I’ve already paid the price for my failures, why not share that with the organisation so they don’t have to pay the price too?
How does psychological safety play a part in fueling your organisation’s innovation?
By demonstrating genuine curiosity and a willingness to understand different points of view, we foster an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and encouraged to contribute freely.
Eddie Eng
Driving Innovation with Psychological Safety
Google research has identified psychological safety as the most important factor in building an effective team. But how do you know whether you are fostering or eroding psychological safety in your workplace?
People do not judge us based on our intentions; they judge us based on our behaviours. Take a moment to reflect on how you interact with others at work:
- Do you intentionally invite others to share their diverse views, or are you more focused on sharing your own?
- Do you proactively seek feedback, or do you wait for others to initiate it?
- Do you ask for help when needed, or do you prefer to work independently
The practice of actively inviting others creates psychological safety. By demonstrating genuine curiosity and a willingness to understand different points of view, we foster an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and encouraged to contribute freely. What do you do to build psychological safety in your workplace?
