Psychological Safety CAN be enabled at scale.

Psychological safety has become a well-understood concept, largely thanks to the pioneering work of Harvard professor Amy Edmondson and the findings of Google’s Project Aristotle. As companies across industries strive to cultivate high-performing teams, understanding and fostering psychological safety has become essential.

What is Psychological Safety?

At its core, psychological safety refers to the belief that individuals within a team can speak up, ask questions, admit mistakes, and offer new ideas without fear of embarrassment, punishment, or being marginalised. It’s about creating an environment where individuals feel safe to take interpersonal risks—a crucial aspect of teamwork that often determines whether a group thrives or stagnates.

Google’s Project Aristotle and the High-Performance Formula

In 2012, Google’s Project Aristotle aimed to crack the code of what makes teams successful. After extensive research, it found that psychological safety was a defining characteristic of high-performing teams. In fact, psychological safety topped the list of key factors, which also included dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact.

The results were eye-opening: teams with high psychological safety were more innovative, made fewer mistakes, and had better outcomes because individuals felt safe enough to express their opinions, challenge the status quo, and learn from failure. In short, psychological safety wasn’t just a “nice-to-have” feature of team dynamics—it was mission-critical for driving performance and achieving meaningful outcomes.

The Gap Between Awareness and Action

While most people intuitively accept that psychological safety leads to better team performance, many struggle with how to create it. Leaders know they need to foster an environment of trust and openness, but simply having good intentions isn’t enough to guarantee that psychological safety will exist.

The typical response from organisations is to include questions about psychological safety in their engagement surveys or to offer training programs on the topic. These steps are well-meaning, but their impact is often minimal. Without meaningful follow-up actions, simply asking about or training on psychological safety does not translate into tangible cultural changes within teams.

Optimizing Psychological Safety: Two Key Strategies

Fortunately, there are actionable strategies to help organisations build and sustain psychological safety:

1. Empower Teams to Take Collective Accountability for Their Culture: Psychological safety isn’t the sole responsibility of the team leader. While leaders play a critical role in setting the tone, the entire team must take collective accountability for their culture. If even one member behaves in a way that triggers fear or undermines trust, psychological safety is compromised. It requires everyone in the group to be mindful of how their behaviours and attitudes impact others.
2. Create Awareness of Psychological Safety Levels and FluctuationsPsychological safety isn’t static. It fluctuates over time depending on team dynamics, external pressures, and even individual stress levels. Leaders and teams must be able to assess and recognise when psychological safety is under threat and take proactive steps to address it. This awareness allows teams to identify risks and course-correct before negative behaviours or miscommunications undermine the sense of safety.

Collective Accountability: A Non-Negotiable Component

While leaders can model openness and encourage feedback, it’s important to recognise that they are not the sole determinants of team culture. Psychological safety is a shared responsibility. If one team member exhibits behaviour that causes others to feel threatened—whether through dismissive remarks, unconstructive criticism, or a refusal to listen—no amount of leadership effort can overcome the disruption to team cohesion and trust.

Thus, the first step toward building lasting psychological safety is ensuring that every team member understands the importance of their role in creating a safe environment for others. This involves a combination of personal accountability, group reflection, and a commitment to making respectful, supportive interactions the norm.

Building a Foundation for Innovation and Resilience

In today’s fast-paced, competitive environment, psychological safety is more than just a moral imperative—it’s a business necessity. Teams that feel safe to express themselves, challenge one another, and learn from mistakes are more resilient, innovative, and capable of achieving meaningful results.

To build and maintain psychological safety, organisations must go beyond surface-level interventions like surveys and training. True psychological safety is achieved when teams take ownership of their culture, leaders promote continuous awareness of team dynamics, and everyone holds each other accountable for creating a supportive, trust-filled environment. When that happens, the potential for growth, learning, and innovation becomes limitless.

If that sounds desirable but really hard to achieve, the great news is that is exactly what Perspective enables, at scale, and instantly. Get in touch to learn more: sophie@gainperspective.ai