What is Psychological Safety?
Feeling psychologically safe in the workplace is the glue that holds high-performing teams together, whether they’re manufacturing a product, teaching pupils or providing therapeutic support to service users.
Psychological Safety
Psychological safety sounds like the new buzzword, but it’s far more than that and is a concept based in scientific research. Feeling psychologically safe in the workplace is the glue that holds high-performing teams together, whether they’re manufacturing a product, teaching pupils or providing therapeutic support to service users.
Dr Amy Edmondson, professor at Harvard Business School, defines psychological safety as “a felt permission for candour” (2019). It’s about creating an environment where everyone feels safe to voice their opinions and share ideas (even incomplete ones) without fearing reprisal.
Ever spoken up in a workplace and been met with a complete tumbleweed moment before someone changes the subject? Been left feeling like “I wish I’d never opened my mouth” or “people think I’m stupid now”. Or tried to give some feedback to someone and they’ve gone in the defensive and completely missed what you were trying to communicate? That’s the opposite of psychological safety.
When we feel as though our voice is heard and that our opinions matter, we’re able to trust those around us. Only then can we overcome our natural preoccupation with looking good enough in front of colleagues and managers.
Psychological Safety
Psychological safety has been linked with:-
Enhanced creativity
Innovation thrives when we encourage different viewpoints, and we can offer new ideas without criticism. Collaboration increases the knowledge in the room exponentially, but this doesn’t happen unless people feel safe to contribute. -
Improved communication
Open and honest dialogue fosters trust, improves problem solving, and aligns teams around shared goals. -
Improved employee wellbeing
When people feel valued and supported, they feel satisfied at work, leading to less staff turnover and increased productivity. -
Inclusivity
Psychological safety ensures that all individuals and all experiences have a seat at the table. -
Continuous learning
Mistakes are the stepping stones to growth. Where there is a felt sense of psychological safety, errors are an opportunity for learning not blame. A psychologically safe environment is one where they fail well.
Amy Edmondson’s research has shown that psychologically safe organisations out-perform their counterparts in terms of being able to innovate, adapt in times of uncertainty and overall effectiveness of the teams within.
In 2023, a Gallup report found that 59% of the world’s employees are ‘quiet quitting’, meaning they’re not engaged at work, aren’t working at their best, and are more likely to be burned out, stressed and disconnected. This rises to 72% in Europe, with only 10% of the UK workforce describing themselves as meaningfully engaged with their work. It’s something we simply cannot ignore!
We know that organisations and leadership play a huge role in creating engagement or disengagement through the organisational culture and ethos. Creating a culture of psychological safety is vital if we’re to turn around this trend of disconnection, as well as addressing the rising tide of employee stress levels which remain at a record high.
Psychological safety is not a goal
In successful organisations psychological safety should be a way of life, something constantly reinforced by leadership, and checked out with employees. It’s not a one and done task.
Want to know more about how to increase psychological safety within your organisation? Get in touch to find out how I can support you, or check out my consultancy page to see some of the ways I work with organisations and schools.
Edmondson, A.C. (2019), The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation & Growth. John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken
Gallup (2023), State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report: The Voice of the World’s Employees