Enhancing psychological safety

The following questions can help you gain insight into the extent to which people feel psychologically safe in your organisation. It can also be used at the team level.

• If you make a mistake in this team, will it be held against you?

• Do people in this organisation feel able to bring up problems and tough issues?

• Do people in this organisation sometimes reject others for being different?

• Is it safe to take a risk in this organisation?

• Is it difficult to ask colleagues for help?

• Would anyone in this organisation deliberately act in a way that undermines efforts?

• When working with colleagues, are unique skills and talents valued and utilised?

The figure identifies the four quadrants of: learner safety, collaborator safety, challenger safety, and inclusion safety. This can serve as a framework to guide interventions to enhance perceptions of psychological safety within your organisation.

How to make your organisation psychologically safe:

• Lead by example and use self-disclosure: Leaders are role models and what they do sets standards for behaviour across the organisation. Ask people for feedback on what you are doing well and not so well; acknowledge your mistakes openly. Be receptive to different opinions; be approachable and encourage people to ask you questions.

• Promote compassionate, curious management: Model and encourage a management style that is collaborative and compassionate, and open to understanding new perspectives.

• Encourage open communication and active listening: Seek and be receptive to feedback from practitioners and create opportunities for open dialogue such as via regular team meetings or feedback sessions. This lets people know their opinions matter to you. Make meetings ‘phone free’ so people can give their full attention to the matter in hand. Demonstrate understanding by repeating what has been said; encourage people to ask questions; make sure everyone has a chance to speak, especially those who are more reticent. The section on mindful listening in key foundation principle KFP2 Sense of Appreciation provides in-depth guidance on improving listening skills.

• Create a safe environment: Make sure people feel comfortable voicing their opinions and can speak their mind without being embarrassed or punished. Work with practitioners to develop some ground rules for personal interactions – e.g. no interruptions, all ideas are accepted equally, never blame or judge.

• Addressing conflict effectively: Develop mechanisms for conflict resolution to manage disagreements constructively. Ensure individuals feel safe in reporting conflicts without fearing retaliation, and empower them to challenge discriminatory, uncivil, or disruptive behaviour. Managing conflict quick wins is discussed further in key foundation principle KFP1 Secure base.

• Promote inclusivity: Cultivate a diverse and inclusive workforce where every individual feels valued and respected, and different perspectives are welcomed in decision-making processes. Foster a culture that actively encourages and addresses questions, concerns, and ideas. 

• Encourage a sense of justice and equity: Implement policies and procedures that prioritise fairness. Consider three aspects: distributive justice (ensuring employees perceive outcomes as equitable, meaning that rewards, opportunities, and resources are distributed fairly across the organisation), procedural justice (ensuring the decision-making process is deemed fair, transparent, and unbiased), and interactional justice (focusing on how individuals are treated when decisions are made, including the respect, dignity and consideration they receive from managers and colleagues). Organisational justice is discussed further in KFP4 Mission and Vision.

• Keep an open mind: Trying to see things from a different perspective can provide solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Encourage teams to share feedback widely and help them respond to input from others without defensiveness; encourage individuals and teams to view feedback as a way of strengthening and expanding their ideas and processes, rather than criticism.

• Regularly assess and adapt: Actively seek practitioners’ feedback on the organisational culture and adjust if necessary. Invite innovation and suggestions for improvement. Continuously evaluate and enhance communication channels and leadership practices.

• Provide resources for wellbeing: Provide resources and support for mental health and wellbeing and cultivate an environment where seeking help is encouraged and destigmatised.

• Distinguish between psychological safety and accountability: Acknowledging personal fallibility and dealing with errors and failure openly and productively are key to a psychologically safe workplace. Nonetheless, it is important to be constructively supportive rather than offer a ‘crutch’, as organisations that are too psychologically safe can stifle creativity and sanction poor performance.