How to Create Psychological Safety at Work

In a knowledge economy, creativity and ingenuity are more important than ever. It’s even more crucial when organizations operate in an unstable world where change is constant. Edmondson argues that if thoughts stay locked in our heads (because people don’t feel safe to share), then we’re not getting the most out of our people because creative ideas and voices get lost or ignored. And if team members mess up and don’t feel safe to admit it, then that creates even more problems down the line.

But we shouldn't regard it as a cozy concept. Rather, she says, "It’s about... candor. It’s about ... being direct, taking risks – being willing to say, 'I screwed that up.' Being willing to ask for help when you’re in over your head." [2]

Teams that feel psychologically safe are shown to be more innovative, motivated, and keen to learn from their mistakes. [3]

Project Aristotle, a four-year study by Google into team effectiveness, found that the belief that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up was the number one critical factor for team success. [4] In other words, psychological safety is essential if teams are to work effectively and productively together.

The Four Stages of Psychological Safety

Organizational anthropologist Timothy R Clark breaks down psychological safety into four stages: Inclusion, Learner, Contributor, Challenger. [5]

1. Inclusion safety. In the first stage, people feel like they are a part of the team and feel wanted and respected.
2. Learner safety. At this stage, people feel safe to raise their hands and ask questions. They feel able to make mistakes as they experiment and try new things.
3. Contributor safety. This is when people feel like they can make suggestions and share ideas, without fear of reprisals or looking foolish.
4. Challenger safety. At the final stage, people feel like they can question and critique the way things are done, even among people with more authority.

According to Clark, teams can go backward and forward through the four stages or find themselves in different stages for different aspects of work. And not everyone will feel like they are at the same stage.

For example, a 2023 study by Wiley Workplace Intelligence revealed that 42 percent of managers feel psychologically safe, compared with 57 percent of executives, suggesting that feelings of safety can differ significantly depending on your level of seniority. [6]

So, it’s important to include and consider all members of an organization when attempting to create a culture of psychological safety. But doing so must come from the top down. Edmondson argues that those in leadership positions bear most responsibility for establishing psychological safety. [1]

How Psychologically Safe Do We Really Feel at Work?

Unfortunately, psychological safety is often lacking in workplaces. A study carried out by Gallup found that only three in 10 U.S. workers strongly agree that their opinions seem to count at work. [7] Yet, in a 2020 survey from McKinsey, 89 percent of employees responded that psychological safety is “essential” in the workplace. [8]

One organization that has embraced psychological safety is Pixar Animation Studios. It uses peer-led processes to gather feedback, identify issues and improve on current projects by hosting "creative brain trust” meetings. During these meetings, employees who aren’t directly involved in the project are encouraged to give their “unvarnished” opinions. This is all done in a non-judgmental way, with all ideas welcomed. [9]

Conversely, in teams and organizations that have poor psychological safety, micro-management is often pervasive, as is fear and the potential for bullying. At its worst, this can lead to a toxic and destructive organizational culture.

Edmondson cites financial services company Wells Fargo as one of the more extreme examples of the harm that poor psychological safety can cause. A top-down and heavily enforced initiative to cross-sell the organization’s services, combined with a lack of willingness to listen to feedback, led to a major breach in ethical boundaries in 2016, including lying to customers and creating fake customers. Employees simply didn’t feel safe to speak up and express their real and valid concerns. What ensued was one of the biggest major public scandals in the financial world. [2]

How to Assess the Psychological Safety of Your Team

In her book, “The Fearless Organization,” Edmonson offers a simple diagnostic tool that managers can use to assess their team’s psychological safety. Managers should ask their team members whether they agree or disagree with the following seven statements:

1. If you make a mistake on this team, it is often held against you.
2. Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues.
3. People on the team sometimes reject others for being different.
4. It is safe to take a risk in your team.
5. It is difficult to ask other members of the team for help.
6. No one on the team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts.
7. Working with members of the team, my unique skills and talents are valued and utilized.

If team members disagree with statements 1, 3 and 5 and agree with statements 2, 4, 6 and 7, then you have high levels of psychological safety in your team. If the results are reversed, then the opposite is true. Your results may well, of course, be somewhere in between. [1]

A Leader's Toolkit for Psychological Safety

So, what can managers and leaders do to create psychological safety in their teams?

Edmondson outlines a three-part toolkit leaders can use to create a culture of psychological safety:

1. Set the stage

Remind your people about the purpose of their work: why does what they do matter? Why should they bother? What good things will it achieve?

You need buy-in from the team, so make sure everyone is on the same page.

You also need to “frame the work.” Set the scene and explain why candor and honesty are integral to the success of your team and organization. If you are working on a creative project like designing or improving a new product, for example, explain that risk and failure will likely play a significant part of the process and that there are no bad ideas. If you work in healthcare, however, failure is less of an option, but speaking up if you notice something incorrect is crucial.

2. Invite participation

Tell your team that it’s OK to voice their opinions and share their thoughts - and explicitly invite people to do so. Ask your team members what they think, regularly. Create forums for voices, be it team meetings or one-on-ones. Foster a culture of openness through active participation.

3. Respond productively

Work is never plain sailing all the way. Every company experiences rough waters at some point. Also, people sometimes make mistakes or suggest ideas that don’t hold up under scrutiny. As a leader, you need to respond appropriately when bad news or bad ideas come up. Otherwise, no one will feel safe sharing anything.

This means staying measured and calm. Being fair and honest, but also professional. And giving a response that is truthful, but that will also encourage people to continue sharing in the future. For example, by saying something like, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. It’s better to know now than to find out later.”

6 More Ways to Create Psychological Safety

Here are six more strategies you can use to encourage psychological safety in your team:

1. Set clear standards and behaviors within your team. Consider drawing up a team charter together. Not only can this help to clarify roles and responsibilities, but it can also outline how you should communicate, collaborate, and behave.
2. Role model the behavior you want to see. As a manager or leader, show others that it’s OK to try new things, make mistakes and be vulnerable, without fear of recrimination.
3. Give everyone a voice and listen to them. In your meetings and interactions, encourage input and feedback from every member of your team, not just those with the loudest voices, or those who are physically present.
4. Swap blame for curiosity. Criticizing team members for mistakes leads to defensiveness, the erosion of trust, and, ultimately, disengagement. Instead, when things go wrong, describe the problem as an observation, explore the issue together and involve the team in coming up with solutions.
5. Encourage compassion. Showing empathy and kindness for others is an important way to promote feelings of safety and wellbeing in your team. A simple, “How are you feeling or getting on?” or “How can I help?” can go a long way.
6. Call out inappropriate behavior. If you witness someone undermining the psychological safety of your team (for example, by constantly running a person or their ideas down), call it out and challenge this behavior promptly and assertively. Edmonson stresses the importance of robust, strong responses when people have stepped over a line.

As executive coach and author Laura Delizonna puts it, "If you create this sense of psychological safety … you can expect to see higher levels of engagement, increased motivation to tackle difficult problems, more learning opportunities, and better performance." [10] Who wouldn’t want that for their team?