How You Can Create Psychological Safety to Boost Team Effectiveness

Do you know what the number one predictor of team success is? 

You might think the answer lies in the skills and talents of team members or their level of dedication, grit, and determination.

Those would all be good guesses. But the answer lies in the team's culture - how they work together, the relationships they form, and their sense of connection.

In short, team success can be predicted by the level of psychological safety present.

Before we dive into the practical ways leaders can create psychological safety in their teams, let’s explore what the term means.

What Is Psychological Safety?

Psychological safety was originally coined by psychologist and psychotherapist Carl Rogers in the 1950s and related to the conditions necessary to foster an individual’s creativity. 

Scholar and social scientist Amy Edmondson first applied the concept of psychological safety to teams in her 1999 article in Administrative Science Quarterly, Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Teams. 

In her initial research, Edmondson set out to understand the relationship between error-making and teamwork in hospitals. She expected the data to show that teams with higher levels of psychological safety would make fewer mistakes. The results revealed the opposite. It appeared that teams with higher levels of psychological safety made more mistakes than their counterparts. When Edmondson dug deeper, she found that it wasn’t that teams with higher levels of psychological safety were more error-prone, it was that they felt comfortable saying that they made mistakes.

Team psychological safety is “a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences.” 

My Make Work Healthy co-author, John Ryan, interviewed Dr. Edmondson on The Make Work Healthy podcast series to discuss the crucial role psychological safety plays in team and organizational success.

In 2012, Google embarked on an intensive research study code-named Project Aristotle to determine the ingredients of the perfect team. 

After several years of observation and analysis, the company identified five factors of a successful team. The first on the list is psychological safety - followed by dependability, structure and clarity, meaning, and impact.

The key foundational prerequisite for psychological safety in all aspects of human interaction, whether personal or professional, is trust.

When trust is present, communication flows openly, people feel comfortable voicing opinions and concerns, ideas are shared freely, and intelligent risks are taken more often. Mistakes are considered part of the learning process and ultimately strengthen team performance. The atmosphere is one of mutual respect, candor, and connection.

How Can Leaders Create Team Psychological Safety?

Team psychological safety is an essential component of a healthy workplace. Without it, leaders will not make meaningful progress in creating and sustaining workplace well-being efforts. 

Set the Tone from the Top

As with all workplace culture efforts, leaders walking the talk is the most important element in sustaining an organizational-wide change, like increasing team psychological safety.

Educate your leaders on what it means to create team psychological safety and measure their success regularly. Tie these results to leaders’ overall performance reviews to ensure these efforts are taken seriously and become part of your company’s DNA. 

Share successes and areas of opportunity broadly with all employees so they can connect with the progress made in this important aspect of your company culture. Mistakes are inevitable. Be sure to share those with your employees, too, to show that making mistakes is an important part of learning and growth.

Establish Team Norms

Identify how you want to work together as a team. Make sure your people have a say in the ways in which they feel comfortable working together to support collective success.

Codify these as your team norms and ensure everyone can access them. Post them on your team Intranet or in a physical space in your office. Start each meeting by recognizing your team norms and aligning with them in every interaction.

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Communicate Expectations

Knowing what’s expected of each team member, their roles, responsibilities, and individual and collective goals is critical. This eliminates confusion and potential anxiety.

Make sure everyone on your team knows these important details, and make a commitment to track progress together. Ensure you allow people to ask questions, share concerns, and provide suggestions for improvement regarding team expectations.

Include Team Members in Decision-Making

Another way to create psychological safety is to give team members an opportunity to participate in decision-making. While not every idea can be accepted, giving your team members a voice in how your team or organization is run shows them you respect their contributions and feedback.

When ideas can’t be implemented, follow up with reasons why and thank your people for taking the time to share their perspectives.

Practice Active Listening

Active listening is one of the hallmark traits of strong leaders, and it’s a difficult skill to master.

It’s important to ensure your people feel heard. Make it a priority to listen to understand. Keep an open, curious mind when talking to your people, and avoid judgment. Ensure you dedicate most of the space in your conversations to listening, not speaking. Ask questions to clarify your understanding.

Openly Share Mistakes

As we learned from Amy Edmondson’s research, openly sharing mistakes is a marker of teams with high psychological safety. As a leader, tell your people when things you’ve done might not have gone how you wanted them to and communicate what you learned from it. Provide space for people to share their mistakes and make it a teaching moment for the team.

For more insights on how you can create a workplace focused on mental health, check out Make Work Healthy and my coaching solutions, or schedule a consulting call with me.