Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is the sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes. It describes a team climate characterised by interpersonal trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves (Edmondson, 1999). Teams with high levels of psychological safety have a clear sense of meaning and purpose, with shared values that are demonstrated and reinforced through its people’s language and actions.

Creating an environment of psychological safety enables higher levels of employee engagement, increases motivation of people to tackle difficult problems and enables more learning opportunities on an individual, team and organisation level. This is critical when building an inclusive growth mindset culture.