Lead like it's safe to speak: The real power of psychological safety

More meetings. More oversight. More pressure. 

More, “I’ll just do it myself.” And all of that top-down “more” fuels less questions, less trust, less feedback, less collaborative problem-solving. 

This is what is defined as a psychologically unsafe environment. An environment in which team members withhold ideas, avoid risks and dodge innovation in the face of potential failure. The stress of incurring the leader’s wrath or disapproval is simply too high. Researcher Adam Bates made the argument, “You can say, ‘all are welcome’ but if wolves and sheep are both welcome then you’re only going to get wolves.”