When people experience psychological safety in the workplace, they are comfortable being themselves, sharing ideas, expressing their creativity and taking risks without fear of criticism or punishment. A psychologically safe work environment brings significant benefits to the organization, too—better employee engagement, innovation and business performance.
What is psychological safety at work?
Amy C. Edmondson, the psychological safety guru, characterizes it as “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes, and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”
Psychological safety also means team members are unafraid to bring their authentic selves to work. It can increase feelings of belonging and inclusion, and make employees feel more connected to their team and the organization’s purpose. With remote and hybrid work arrangements, psychological safety is even more important for keeping teams engaged.
What psychological safety isn’t.
The concept of psychological safety has been around long enough for certain misconceptions to have cropped up. Edmondson is quick to note that psychological safety doesn’t mean:
- Always being nice. Teams should be candid and not avoid hard or uncomfortable truths.
- Getting your way. The point of psychological safety is to be heard, not to have your ideas accepted every time.
- Leaders are solely responsible for a culture of psychological safety. Everyone on a team can build psychological safety by asking questions to draw teammates out, being supportive, and responding to others’ ideas with interest and concern.
- Sacrificing performance. Edmondson says high standards and psychological safety can coexist. When teams aren’t honest, they run the risk of “group think” and reduced quality of work.
How does the workplace benefit from psychological safety?
There are several notable benefits:
- Team members become more engaged and motivated when they can speak up without fear of retribution.
- Decision-making improves when people feel more comfortable sharing their opinions and concerns. The volume and diversity of perspectives can also increase, impacting decision quality.
- A culture of continuous learning and improvement emerges, as team members share and learn from mistakes.1
- Increased safety and reduced employee errors may result. This is especially true in industries like healthcare and aviation, where employee and customer safety are paramount.2
In summary, according to McKinsey, psychological safety “extends far beyond the soft stuff: it substantially contributes to team effectiveness, learning, employee retention, and—most critically—better decisions and better performance.”3
What happens when psychological safety isn’t present in the workplace?
When employees don’t feel their voice is heard or their contributions are valued they may disengage from work and their teams. They may also experience feelings of exclusion and lack of belonging. Over time, this can cause mental health concerns like depression, anxiety and even burnout. As we know, poor mental health can lead to physical symptoms like disrupted sleep, headaches, muscle tension and fatigue and contribute to high blood pressure and heart disease.4
How to foster psychological safety in your organization.
Here are some practical tips for increasing psychological safety in your workplace.
1. Set the stage.
Ask leaders to send a message to all employees encouraging them to resist the status quo. Reassure them they will be rewarded for speaking up and presenting radical thoughts, unproven theories and even unorthodox opinions. Encourage employees to take healthy workplace risks, including:
- Speaking up in a meeting or proposing a new idea.
- Disagreeing with their boss and offering a different way forward.
- Sticking up for a teammate in the face of adversity.
- Taking on new responsibilities.
2. Encourage failure.
When we fail, we worry we’ll be punished or look foolish. So, we avoid speaking up or taking risks that could help solve challenges and move the organization forward. To overcome fear, leaders must stress to employees that it’s okay to fail. Ask leaders to:
- Demonstrate humility and share stories of personal failures.
- Reframe failure and talk about it as an opportunity to grow and learn.
- Support Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) where employees can openly share their opinions without fear of judgment.
3. Acknowledge every effort.
To reinforce a culture of psychological safety, it’s important to reward employees when they take risks. This could be a simple “thanks for speaking up” note or more formal acknowledgement through an employee recognition program. Post-mortems can also be a great opportunity to candidly discuss what went right and wrong on a particular project and what could be done differently in the future.
4. Measure your progress.
You will never know how psychologically safe your employees feel unless you ask. Pulse and engagement surveys can include questions like, “how safe do you feel expressing your opinions at work?” and “what can we change to make you feel even safer?” Aside from gauging employee sentiment on psychological safety, the feedback can also serve as a road map to address any issues employees identify.
Eliminate organizational fear and foster growth.
By fostering an environment where employees feel safe to take risks, speak up, and be their authentic selves, organizations can unlock greater engagement, innovation, and performance. Increasing psychological safety requires commitment from leadership and participation from everyone, but the rewards—better decisions, continuous learning, and improved well-being—make it well worth the effort.
