How Leaders Can Build Psychologically Safe Workplaces
- Utkarsh Narang
- Aug 4
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 9
“Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first.” - Angela Ahrendts, Former Senior Vice President of Retail of Apple Inc.
This article will discuss the importance of psychological safety in the workplace and provide insights that will help leaders build greater psychological safety so their teams are more successful and engaged.
The article will take you 7-9 minutes to read and a lifetime to apply. Keep making incremental progress. We will share 12 things you can do as a leader to build a psychologically safe workplace.
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What Is Psychological Safety at Work?
Psychological safety is the belief that you won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. At work, it’s a shared expectation held by team members that teammates will not embarrass, reject, or punish them for sharing ideas, taking risks, or soliciting feedback.
Psychological safety in the workplace isn't about constant niceness but rather about creating an environment where individuals feel comfortable expressing ideas, even if they're not fully formed, challenging existing norms, giving and receiving feedback openly, and resolving disagreements collaboratively. It's about fostering a culture where leaders value honesty, candour, and truthfulness and where team members support each other through thick and thin.
In workplaces where psychological safety exists, individuals feel at ease being their genuine selves and are willing to be vulnerable in front of others. Organisations benefit greatly from such environments, where employees feel empowered to ask challenging questions, express concerns, seek assistance, and take well-considered risks.
A research study conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership of nearly 300 leaders over 2.5 years found that teams with high degrees of psychological safety reported higher levels of performance and lower levels of interpersonal conflict.
The Importance of Psychological Safety at Work
Psychological safety at work is not just a “nice to have;” it impacts the organisation’s bottom line. Having a higher level of consistent psychological safety helps to unlock the contributions of all talent in the enterprise and ensures the organisation is better equipped to prevent failure.
Research has repeatedly found that organisations benefit from diversity of thought, and groups of people with different life experiences are better able to recognise problems and offer creative solutions than groups with similar life experiences.
What if certain team members hesitate to voice their opinions, express concerns, or pose difficult questions due to discomfort? What if they refrain from proposing fresh and inventive ideas out of fear of potential consequences?
Unfortunately, many people feel this way about their workplace. According to a 2019 Gallup poll, just 3 out of 10 employees strongly agreed that their opinions count at work.
It can be especially challenging for members of social identity groups that are often marginalised by society to feel high levels of psychological safety in the workplace. For example, a recent survey from Catalyst found that nearly half of female business leaders face difficulties speaking up in virtual meetings, and 1 in 5 reported feeling overlooked or ignored during video calls. Members of historically underrepresented groups may feel this reality even more keenly.
Colleagues who feel their work environment is psychologically safe are more willing to engage in interpersonal risk-taking behaviours that contribute to greater organisational innovation — like speaking up, asking questions, sharing unspoken reservations, and respectfully disagreeing. This ultimately yields a more robust, dynamic, innovative, and inclusive organisational culture.
In contrast, when psychological safety at work is low, people are uncomfortable raising concerns, initiatives that aren’t working move forward anyway, the organisation isn’t equipped to prevent failure, and talent begins to disengage. When employees aren’t fully committed to shared organisational success, ideas aren’t stress-tested, processes aren’t optimised, solutions aren’t vetted, and the enterprise has lost an opportunity to leverage the contributions of all its talent.
Why Psychological Safety in the Workplace Matters Now More Than Ever
“When you put people first and then surround them with processes and disciplines that recognise their efforts, performance will soar.” - David C. Novak, Co-Founder and Former CEO of YUM! Brands Inc.
The emergence of hybrid and virtual work setups following the pandemic has added complexity to fostering psychological safety in the workplace for today's leaders.
Establishing trust becomes challenging when employees are not physically present in the same location, with many working remotely. Building connections and enhancing psychological safety can be more difficult when interpersonal interactions need to be planned in advance and conducted through digital screens. However, leading remote teams gives leaders a distinct opportunity to cultivate connections and promote psychological safety, provided they are attentive to the dynamics at play.
During virtual meetings, you have the ability to maintain prolonged eye contact with participants, which may not be socially acceptable in person. This allows you to closely observe the speaker, capturing not only their words but also their emotions and underlying values. Leaders can leverage this aspect of virtual communication to engage in genuine listening and foster authentic connections in virtual settings.
Moreover, individuals often find it easier to express vulnerable thoughts through written communication on a screen, such as in a meeting chat, than speaking in person. In such contexts, they may value taking additional time to craft their messages carefully for maximum impact. Leaders can demonstrate respect for those who bravely share their candid thoughts, acknowledging the vulnerability involved and responding with gratitude.
12 Steps Toward Creating More Psychological Safety at Work
Here’s how leaders can help create a more psychologically safe workplace.
1. Establish Vision for Psychological Safety: Clearly articulate why fostering psychological safety is vital and define appropriate behaviours and norms.
2. Train Teams and Individuals: Offer workshops on understanding psychological safety concepts and equipping personnel with relevant knowledge and skills.
3. Visualizations: Utilize diagrams, charts, and metaphors to convey complex ideas visually, facilitating comprehension and discussion.
4. Normalize Work-Related Vulnerability: Encourage admitting weaknesses and learning moments openly, modelling such behaviour yourself.
5. Don't Rush to "Fix" Everything: Give ample consideration and allow reflection instead of jumping immediately to resolve perceived flaws.
6. Empathic Listening: Attend carefully to concerns expressed, avoiding judgment or dismissal.
7. Create a Sense of Belonging: Ensure employees feel welcomed and integrated into the broader community.
8. Meet Basic Human Needs: Prioritize aspects like predictability, autonomy, recognition, etc., acknowledging holistic requirements beyond tasks alone.
9. Curiosity vs. Judgement: Troubleshoot issues curiously, seeking mutual resolution rather than attributing fault.
10. Team Orientation: Develop a 'we' attitude prioritising synergies over singular talents.
11. Accept Imperfection: Tolerate errors, recognising them as inevitable stepping stones along advancement paths.
12. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Understand unconscious biases and champion DEI principles to enhance fairness and representation.
“No 21st-century organisation can afford to have a culture of fear. Fear silences all but the most confident voices, and small signals of impending risks are discounted or ignored.” - Dr. Amy Edmonson, Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School.
Ensuring psychological safety in the workplace has become an indispensable aspect of modern business culture. A psychologically safe working environment empowers individuals and catalyses collective progress through open dialogue, collaboration, creativity, and resilience. By embracing this principle, companies foster higher job satisfaction, improved performance, increased retention, and robust company cultures—ultimately driving long-term prosperity while honouring each person's unique contributions toward shared goals.
As we continue navigating dynamic market landscapes, it becomes increasingly clear that investing time and resources in building psychological safety will yield dividends far exceeding initial investments, thus making its significance paramount across all industries today.
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