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.”

Alternatively, in teams where psychological safety is present, people challenge assumptions, admit mistakes, propose solutions, offer feedback and connect deeply with their purpose. Psychological safety isn’t about being soft. In fact, it’s a proven driver of performance and adaptability. Research by Amy Edmondson at Harvard Business School and further findings from Google’s Project Aristotle show that teams with high psychological safety consistently outperform others in innovation, speed and learning. 

Leaders have an outsized influence on this climate. The environments you create — intentionally or not — shape not just productivity, but human and team potential.

The environment you create is the culture you lead

As executive coaches, we’ve seen it time and again: Culture isn't written in mission statements; it’s created moment to moment in how leaders show up. The way you listen, the questions you ask, the responses you give (or don’t) shape the emotional climate of your team more than any formal initiative ever could. The list of values written on the wall are meaningless if they aren’t leveraged in meetings, daily interactions, decision-making and strategic planning.

We therefore coach leaders to design the internal environment with as much care and intention as they would a business strategy. In uncertain times, the most effective leaders control not what their team does but how their team feels while doing it.

Google recently analyzed 180+ teams to find what separates the best from the rest. Surprisingly, it wasn't who was on the team but how they worked together. They identified five key dynamics of successful teams, with psychological safety being the most crucial.

1. Psychological safety: Can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?
2. Dependability: Can we count on each other to do high-quality work on time?
3. Structure and clarity: Are goals, roles, and execution plans clearly understood?
4. Meaning of work: Is our work personally important to each of us?
5. Impact of work: Do we believe the work we’re doing matters?

Perform a 'cultural health check'

Step 1: Start with you

If you’re rolling your eyes in frustration right now and asking yourself, “why can’t people just show up and do their jobs?” we hear you. And now turn inward to shift your perspective. Ask yourself:

• How do I want to feel when I come into work? How do I want to feel when I leave? 
• What do I need from my work environment to feel that way and do my very best work? How have my previous leaders fueled that for me?
• As a leader, can I take responsibility for driving that same success for my team?

Step 2: Take inventory 

Give yourself a score on a scale of 1-5 for each of those 5 critical dynamics of a successful team. Then reflect:

• What 1 or 2 things are driving that score?
• What makes that score a 3 (for example) and not a 2? Essentially, what are we already doing well that we might reinforce more intentionally? 

Step 3: Connect with your team

You don’t have to do this alone. In fact, we encourage you not to. Involve your team by starting with their input and empowering them to run with the potential solutions that emerge in your discussions. In your upcoming 1:1 meetings, connect on these five dynamics — simply ask them probing questions to understand their experience. For example:

• Do you feel like you can take risks, make decisions, drive new solutions in the day-to-day?
• Can you give me an example of when you felt safe to take risks? And perhaps when you didn’t feel comfortable but saw an opportunity to be innovative?
• What’s one thing I might do more of to help you feel confident in driving solutions to challenges?
• And most importantly, as you engage your team, normalize mistakes as learning opportunities. Try asking: What’s something that didn’t go as planned last week, and what did we learn from it?

Step 4: Model the mindset

Edmondson emphasizes psychological safety isn't a goal in itself—it's the means to foster a workplace where learning and innovation thrive. In practice, this means leaders must:

• Frame work as a learning problem, not an execution problem.
• Acknowledge their own fallibility.
• Model curiosity by asking a lot of questions.

Be honest 

Many leaders mistakenly assume psychological safety means avoiding conflict or ensuring constant comfort. In fact, as Amy Edmondson recently wrote, “psychological safety is not about being nice—it’s about candor, about being able to speak up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes without fear of punishment.”

In high-performing teams, psychological safety often coexists with discomfort. Difficult conversations, honest feedback, and accountability flourish not in spite of safety—but because of it.

A psychologically safe environment is not only about making people “feel better.” It plays a pivotal role in enhancing team effectiveness, accelerating learning, improving employee retention and, perhaps most importantly, enabling stronger decision making and higher overall performance.