When you make a mistake at work, is your first instinct to panic? Or do you feel calm and secure knowing that your team has your back and will support you as you learn from your mistake? 

Your answer says a lot about the level of psychological safety in your workplace. 

Psychological safety is the foundation of strong team dynamics and a healthy workplace culture. It refers to a shared belief that speaking up, asking questions, and admitting mistakes will not lead to punishment or ridicule. 

Organizations that prioritize psychological safety tend to see higher employee engagement, better decision-making, and more innovation. These outcomes aren’t coincidental; they result from deliberate cultural and leadership practices that encourage openness, inclusion, and mutual respect.

This blog explores what psychological safety at work means, why it’s critical for today’s workplaces, and how companies can build and sustain it. These insights can help you take meaningful steps toward a high-performance culture where people feel safe and empowered to do their best work. 

What Is Psychological Safety at Work?

Psychological safety in teams is the belief shared by team members that it’s safe to take interpersonal risks at work. In a psychologically safe environment, team members can freely admit their mistakes, ask questions, provide feedback, and challenge the status quo without fear of reprisal or judgment.

Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson introduces the term psychological safety as “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.” Her research has shown that psychological safety supports team learning behavior and improves performance outcomes.

In a psychologically safe team, employees are willing to:

• Offer ideas without fear
• Share mistakes to help the group learn
• Ask for help or clarification
• Give feedback honestly, even to leadership
• Disagree respectfully and constructively

Fear of an angry, dismissive, or contemptuous reaction from colleagues creates a toxic, stressful workplace. Moreover, it stifles creativity and problem-solving within a team. On the other hand, psychological safety makes it easier to focus on team goals and collective success.

What Psychological Safety Is Not

Now that we’ve answered the question, “What is psychological safety at work?” it’s important to point out what it is not. 

Psychological safety in teams isn’t the same as comfort or agreement. A team can experience discomfort, conflict, or high expectations and still be psychologically safe. The difference is in how the team responds.

Fostering psychological safety encourages accountability, learning, and improvement, not avoidance or silence. People are still expected to do their jobs, give and receive feedback, and accept responsibility for their actions. However, they do so in an environment where mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth rather than grounds for punishment.

Why Psychological Safety Matters

According to Google’s Project Aristotle, psychological safety was the most important factor in predicting team effectiveness, even more than individual skill sets or experience. Edmondson’s studies and others have echoed similar findings: Psychologically safe teams iterate faster, yielding more innovative outcomes.

Psychological safety at work should be the norm, not something only famous forward-thinking companies like Google achieve. Here are a few reasons why psychological safety should be prioritized in every organization seeking to improve workplace dynamics, team effectiveness, and overall performance. 

Increases Engagement

Employee engagement is a concept that describes an employee’s emotional and mental investment in an organization and its mission, values, and goals. An engaged employee is happy to come to work, dedicated to their job, and motivated to contribute to the organization’s success. To an engaged employee, their job is much more than a paycheck. It’s a meaningful part of their life. 

Employee engagement delivers tangible and measurable benefits to organizations. Engaged employees are more productive, present, innovative, and adaptable. Moreover, they’re less likely to experience burnout and leave the company.

A Workplace Options and IIRSM survey of leaders highlighted how psychological safety at work is linked to higher employee engagement rates. Employees who feel psychologically safe are empowered to take interpersonal risks, such as voicing dissenting opinions, admitting mistakes, or sharing contrasting ideas. 

Drives Innovation

Innovation depends on risk-taking and idea-sharing. If people fear being judged for proposing something unconventional, they’ll default to playing it safe. That mindset blocks creativity.

In the same survey cited in the previous section, 93% of respondents agreed that a psychologically safe working environment is linked to employee well-being, productivity, and innovation.

Psychological safety in teams creates a space where members can pitch ideas without fear of being shut down. Even when ideas are imperfect, they often spark better ones. Teams that feel safe iterate faster and produce more novel outcomes over time.

Improves Team Learning

According to research published in Frontiers in Psychology, psychological safety enables learning, which in turn boosts efficacy. Both contribute to better performance.

Mistakes are part of learning. In psychologically safe teams, errors are acknowledged and discussed, not hidden or ignored. This encourages learning from failure, refining systems, and strengthening processes.

Edmondson’s research shows that high-performing teams report more errors, not fewer. That’s not because they make more mistakes but because they feel safe enough to discuss them. This leads to quicker course correction and better results.

Reduces Turnover and Burnout

Fear-based workplaces wear people down and drive them to leave. Employees who constantly worry about saying the wrong thing are more likely to disengage and experience stress. 

Psychological safety supports well-being by creating a work environment where employees feel valued and supported. When feedback is constructive, expectations are clear, and communication flows both ways, individuals are less likely to feel anxious at work. As a result, they are less likely to experience burnout and leave to seek employment elsewhere. 

Supports Genuine Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In some workplaces, DEI often begins, and unfortunately, usually ends, at representation. Hiring a diverse workforce is important, but even more important is ensuring each member is heard, valued, and respected.

When teams prioritize psychological safety, people from all backgrounds feel empowered to contribute. They’re more likely to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and offer perspectives that might differ from the majority. Without psychological safety, underrepresented employees may stay silent, even when they see problems or opportunities that others don’t.

The Key Characteristics of Psychological Safety

Psychological safety isn’t defined by one behavior or policy. It’s a cultural condition reflected in how people interact. Below are the most common traits that indicate whether a workplace is focused on fostering psychological safety.

Open Communication

Team members are encouraged to speak openly without fear of being cut off, ignored, laughed at, or penalized. Feedback flows in all directions — from employees to managers, between peers, and across departments.

Mutual Respect

Disagreements are handled constructively, not personally. People feel respected even when their ideas are challenged and even when they’re given constructive feedback. 

Mutual respect means separating the person from the idea. For example, one team member may propose a new process, but another teammate raises concerns about the potential delays it might cause. Instead of dismissing the proposal or criticizing the person who shared it, the team explores both perspectives. They thank the first person for the suggestion and then work together to refine the idea based on everyone’s input.

The focus stays on improving the outcome, not on who was “right.” In this case, feedback becomes a tool for growth rather than a source of tension.

Acceptance of Mistakes

Mistakes are seen as part of learning. Employees aren’t blamed for errors made in good faith. Instead, the team reflects on what happened and adjusts processes to prevent future issues.

Curiosity and Learning

People are encouraged to ask questions, share ideas, and seek help. Curiosity is welcomed as a strength, not viewed as a weakness or a symptom of inefficiency.

Constructive Feedback

Feedback is given to help people grow, not to punish or embarrass them. Employees are receptive because they know the intent is to help them improve. 

Clear Boundaries and Expectations

Psychological safety depends on clearly defined norms, expectations, and boundaries. When people understand what’s expected of them, they are more willing to take initiative.

Uncertainty around rules or roles can make people second-guess their contributions or stay silent to avoid stepping on toes. Clarity removes that hesitation. For example, if a team has a shared agreement that it’s okay to respectfully raise concerns about a decision made by their manager, individuals are more likely to ask questions when something feels off.

Clear expectations also help hold everyone accountable. When boundaries are communicated and consistently upheld, people know how to engage with one another. Conflict becomes easier to navigate, and trust grows over time.

Inclusion in Decision-Making

Employees at all levels have opportunities to contribute ideas and weigh in on decisions. They don’t feel that leadership is making choices behind closed doors. This transparency builds trust.

How To Foster Psychological Safety in Your Team

A psychologically safe workplace environment doesn’t develop by chance. Instead, it’s a result of intentional leadership and consistent effort. It also comes from a deliberate commitment among all stakeholders, from team members to leaders, to creating a culture where everyone feels secure being their authentic selves and taking interpersonal risks.

Here are some actionable strategies for fostering psychological safety within your team.

Model Vulnerability as a Leader

Leaders set the tone. When managers admit they don’t have all the answers or acknowledge their own mistakes, they signal that it’s okay to be human at work. This encourages others to speak honestly without fear of looking unprepared or uninformed.

Ask More Than Tell

Open-ended questions create space for others to share ideas. Instead of giving directives, try asking: “What do you think?” or “Is there anything I might be missing here?” This shows you value their input and are willing to listen.

Respond Without Judgment

How leaders respond matters as much as what they ask. Dismissing feedback, showing frustration, or interrupting people discourages open dialogue. Create space for people to speak without being rushed or shut down.

Establish Clear Guidelines

Teams benefit from clear expectations about how to engage with one another. Set norms for how feedback is shared, how decisions are made, and how disagreements are handled. Reinforce these guidelines through regular check-ins and retrospectives.

Reinforce Participation

When someone takes a risk, like asking a tough question or pointing out a mistake, acknowledge it. Thank them publicly and highlight how their input helped the team. This reinforces positive behaviors and encourages others to do the same.

Include People in Decisions

Where possible, involve employees in decision-making processes. Ask for feedback early, not just after plans are finalized. This builds trust and helps people feel invested in the outcomes.

Create Space for Reflection

Psychological safety improves when teams reflect on what’s working and what’s not. Include regular opportunities to review team dynamics, communication habits, and work processes. Use this time to adjust and improve, not to blame.

Encourage Peer Accountability

Leaders don’t need to carry the full burden of team safety. Encourage team members to support each other by:

• Speaking up when someone is interrupted
• Asking quiet colleagues for their input
• Helping normalize mistakes by sharing their own
• Checking in with peers during stressful projects

Peer accountability builds safety as a shared team responsibility, not just a leadership task.

Psychological Safety vs. Other Key Concepts

Psychological safety is often confused with similar ideas, but each concept plays a distinct role in a healthy workplace. Here’s how psychological safety differs from a few related terms.

Psychological Safety vs. Trust

Trust is typically about the relationship between individuals, whereas psychological safety is about how people behave in a group. 

Trust: ‘I trust you to meet deadlines.’ 

Psychological safety: ‘I feel safe suggesting we extend the deadline.

Both concepts are related. However, psychological safety as a collective belief is constantly being built, reinforced, or eroded through the quality and nature of the interpersonal interactions between team members and leaders.

You cannot have a psychologically safe team without individual members consistently demonstrating behaviors that make others feel safe in their direct interactions.

Psychological Safety vs. Transparency

Transparency refers to how openly information is shared, such as whether leadership is honest about goals, changes, or challenges. It’s a cultural value that supports psychological safety. 

However, while transparency is crucial for psychological safety, it alone doesn’t create a safe space. People still need to feel that reacting to or asking questions about what’s being shared is acceptable.

Psychological Safety vs. Psychological Well-Being

Psychological well-being relates to mental and emotional health. It’s about how individuals feel and function at work and outside of it.

Psychological safety supports well-being, but is more focused on how people interact at work. A team can be psychologically safe and still experience stress or high workloads. The difference is how those challenges are acknowledged, addressed, and communicated.

Real-World Examples

Organizations prioritizing safe communication and inclusive leadership tend to outperform those that don’t. These examples show how different workplaces have embedded psychological safety into their culture.

Google’s Project Aristotle

Google’s landmark research initiative, Project Aristotle, studied what made some of their teams more effective than others. After reviewing data from over 180 teams, the company found that psychological safety was the single most important factor in high team performance.

Teams with strong psychological safety didn’t just get along better. They were more likely to meet deadlines, retain top talent, and exceed performance goals. Based on these findings, managers were trained to reinforce inclusive behaviors, such as rotating meeting leadership and validating contributions from quieter team members.

Deloitte’s Leadership Development Programs

Deloitte Denmark integrated psychological safety into its leadership development through a structured program co-developed with the Centre for Leadership. Leaders received 25 hours of training focused on building trust, facilitating open dialogue, and responding constructively. The program emphasized that psychological safety is shaped by what leaders consistently do, say, and model.

Barriers to Building Psychological Safety

Even with the best intentions, many organizations struggle to build psychological safety. These challenges often emerge from cultural habits, leadership gaps, or system-wide pressures discouraging openness.

Fear of Negative Consequences

When employees believe they’ll be judged, punished, or overlooked for speaking up, they stay silent. This fear may come from past experiences, company politics, or an unspoken “don’t rock the boat” rule.

Leadership Blind Spots

Leaders may think their team feels safe because no one has raised concerns. However, silence isn’t always a good sign. If leaders don’t actively ask for feedback or respond well to it, team members may avoid saying anything at all.

Inconsistent Manager Behavior

Psychological safety can’t thrive if it depends on one “good” leader while others dismiss, interrupt, or penalize employees. Inconsistent leadership behaviors across departments or teams create uneven experiences, making safety feel situational or unreliable.

Overemphasis on Productivity

Cultures that prize speed, output, or perfection often leave no room for experimentation or learning. Employees may worry that raising a concern or asking a question will be seen as slowing things down.

Lack of Accountability for Culture

Suppose no one owns culture or psychological safety initiatives, progress stalls. Without clear expectations, support, and follow-up, even well-meaning efforts lose momentum.

Addressing these barriers requires deliberate action, not just creating policies. Leaders must regularly invite feedback, respond to concerns, and work across departments to create consistency. Psychological safety grows when reinforced at every level, not treated as a one-time training topic or a side project.

Measuring Psychological Safety

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. While psychological safety may seem intangible, there are clear ways to assess how safe people feel within their teams and how that perception evolves.

Use Validated Team Surveys

Several tools exist to help organizations measure psychological safety at scale. One widely used approach is a variation of Amy Edmondson’s original seven-question team survey. Common items include:

• “If I make a mistake on this team, it is not held against me.”
• “Members of this team can bring up problems and tough issues.”
• “It is safe to take a risk on this team.”

Responses are typically rated on a 5-point Likert scale and aggregated at the team level. Some companies integrate these questions into broader employee engagement surveys, while others use them as part of quarterly pulse checks.

Conduct Listening Sessions or Focus Groups

Quantitative scores tell you that something’s happening. Listening sessions help uncover why it’s happening. Facilitated discussions within teams or across departments can identify patterns, clarify team dynamics, and provide context to survey results.

These sessions work best when facilitated by someone outside the direct reporting chain and when confidentiality is respected.

Analyze Psychological Safety Over Time

Measuring once isn’t enough. Trends over time reveal whether initiatives are working or if culture is shifting in the wrong direction. Segment results by department, role, or tenure to identify areas that need targeted support.

The Role of Leadership in Psychological Safety

Psychological safety starts at the top. When leadership embraces safety as a shared value, it becomes part of the culture.

Employees take cues from those in charge. Others will follow if leaders encourage questions, admit mistakes, and support healthy debate. However, if leadership responds defensively, ignores feedback, or avoids accountability, psychological safety breaks down, regardless of formal policies or HR efforts.

Lead by Example

People watch what leaders do more than what they say. When leaders admit they don’t have all the answers, listen actively, and show they’re open to learning, they make uncertainty less threatening.

Example: A department head opens a team meeting by sharing a recent mistake and what they learned. This simple act signals that being honest, even about failure, is welcomed, not punished.

Set Behavioral Expectations

Psychological safety thrives when expectations are clear and reinforced consistently. Leaders help establish norms by:

• Inviting questions and alternate viewpoints during meetings
• Acknowledging contributions, not just outcomes
• Intervening when behavior becomes dismissive or disrespectful
• Rotating leadership roles in team discussions or retrospectives

When leaders normalize respectful disagreement and curiosity, teams learn it’s okay to challenge ideas respectfully.

Respond Constructively

How leaders respond when someone raises a concern directly affects future honesty. You don’t have to agree with everything said, but it is important to recognize the courage it took for them to speak up, acknowledge their perspective, and engage in a respectful dialogue.

Thanking someone for their input, asking follow-up questions, and being transparent about the next steps keep communication open. A respectful response helps maintain trust and encourages continued engagement even when you have a different view or decision.

Build Manager Capability

Senior leadership sets the tone, but psychological safety is sustained through frontline interactions. Managers shape day-to-day team dynamics, so organizations must invest in their development.

Training managers in communication, coaching, and feedback creates consistency across departments when every manager knows how to encourage input and handle pushback with care, psychological safety spreads throughout the organization, not just the executive team.

Build the Skills You Need To Transform Your Workplace Culture

Psychological safety empowers team members to speak up, take risks, and learn from mistakes — together. It supports stronger collaboration and deeper engagement, which ultimately leads to better outcomes for the workplace. 

At HPWP Group, we understand the importance of psychological safety and its role in creating a culture of high performance. Our leadership development workshops, in-house team events, and culture-building programs give companies the tools to build trust and accountability at every level.

With our guidance and expertise, you can start building a culture of psychological safety. Explore our programs, book a speaker, or read Creating the High Performance Workplace to get started. For more information, you may also reach out to our team.