Psychological Safety – Frequently Asked Questions

These FAQs are intended to accompany our Psychologically safe workplaces article as well as our Tips for getting started with psychological safety.

What is psychological safety?

Psychological safety is having the confidence and comfort to speak up and voice your thoughts or opinions when things go wrong, when you are unsure about something, when you disagree with or feel the need to challenge what is being said or how things are being done, or when you want to raise concerns. Crucially, feeling psychological safe means that you are comfortable in doing this without the fear that you will be judged, criticised, or even punished for having your say.

How do I achieve psychological safety in my workplace?

Psychological safety is about the climate of the workplace, a climate which is understanding of the fact that our work can be complex, we are often faced with uncertainty, and that sometimes mistakes will be made and things will go wrong. In a psychologically safe climate, mistakes are not shied away from, ignored or covered up, they are acknowledged as opportunities for learning and innovation.

Your team are all individuals and they’re all different, they won’t necessarily always feel confident in speaking up to acknowledge where things could be done better. That’s ok; encourage them, but don’t force them to voice their opinions. The aim is to create a workplace where everyone feels that they are uniquely valued and that their voice matters.

You can expect psychological safety to be strongest within teams where the fundamentals of good workplace wellbeing are being achieved. These include having leaders and managers who are open, honest and transparent, having colleagues who are supportive and respectful of one another, and having staff who have been supported to enhance their knowledge and skills. Each of these instils confidence, competence and collegiality.

As well as understanding the things which can help create a psychologically safe environment, it’s also useful to understand the things which can prevent people from feeling psychologically safe. The biggest barrier to psychological safety is often fear. This might be a fear that you will be blamed or punished for mistakes you highlight, fear that you will be ridiculed by others for the suggestions you make, or fear that you will make a bad impression on those you work alongside. Those relationships and connections we spoke about earlier, as well as the mutual feelings of trust and respect amongst staff, should reduce the likelihood that staff will be afraid to speak up.

As a leader, if I ask for input from everyone when making decisions, do I lose my authority or decision-making power?

Inviting contributions from your team is not the same thing as just doing what others tell you to do, and giving a voice to others does not mean that you lose yours. Part of your role as a leader is to understand the aims and values of your organisation or service and ensure that these are being strived for. Staying true to these allows you to consider the suggestions brought to you and determine which may be appropriate and aligned and which may not be.

How you respond to people will influence how confident they feel in speaking up in the future; fairness and consistency matter. By responding respectfully, honestly, and transparently, explaining the reasons for the decision you have made, you can retain the willingness in the team to raise concerns or suggestions again. Dismissing suggestions out of hand, with no explanation, or in a rude way will likely have the opposite effect.

Leaders who are positive role models can enable psychological safety; try to lead with humility and model the behaviours you are encouraging in others. If you want staff to acknowledge mistakes, you need to be willing to acknowledge your own. If you want to encourage innovation and curiosity from staff, you need to lead with these traits. Recognise that you don’t know everything, none of us does. Being willing to admit when you don’t know something doesn’t make you a less effective leader.

Professional hierarchies commonly act as a barrier to psychological safety. Those in higher positions tend to feel more psychologically safe, as well as tending to have more freedom to speak up for themselves and receive more respect for their opinions. Staff at all levels need to be afforded the same level of respect for psychological safety to cross hierarchical boundaries. This doesn’t put the position of the leader under threat; it simply allows everyone to be treated fairly.

If I accept mistakes, do I have to accept poor standards of work or care?

No. A climate of psychological safety is one where mistakes and challenges are shared and acknowledged. This does not mean that lesser performance standards are accepted, it means that there is an expectation of an ambition to learn, develop and innovate to improve standards. Indeed, evidence shows that teams who report more errors tend to deliver safer care.

The fact they are reporting more errors doesn’t mean they are making more errors, simply that they are more comfortable reporting them. They feel psychologically safe. It is important to normalise learning, not perfection. Research shows that workplaces which have a focus on continuous improvement tend to have a higher degree of psychological safety. This relationship appears to be cyclical, with psychological safety tending to bring with it an understanding of the importance of learning from mistakes and an increased engagement in quality improvement.

How do I encourage my team to think creatively and challenge norms, while making sure that essential tasks are completed?

We all have essential tasks which come with our role, and there is always a need to remain focused on the core delivery needs of the service or team. However, this shouldn’t mean that we stifle learning, development and innovation. It is perfectly feasible for service delivery needs to be met at the same time as challenging accepted norms or ways of doing things.

By encouraging staff to innovate and consider alternative ways of doing things, you are not asking them to pick holes in what has been done before. You are asking them to identify potential inefficiencies which may be improved upon. You are looking for their help in delivering an even better service.

Challenging the accepted ways of doing things can be difficult. It can be a daunting prospect to speak up in front of your peers or leaders and suggest changes in practices. That doesn’t mean that those suggestions don’t have value. As a leader, having the humility to acknowledge when someone has come up with a good idea that you hadn’t thought of is a valuable asset to possess. Equally valuable is having the oversight to know what the aims and obligations of your service or team are. Combining these two allows you to keep the service operating well while enhancing the psychological safety of your staff.

Should I focus on psychological safety instead of staff wellbeing?

Psychological safety shouldn’t be thought of as something separate to general staff wellbeing. It should be thought of as an indicator or outcome of good wellbeing. It tends to develop in environments where the fundamentals of good workplace wellbeing are already core to how the team operates.

When staff feel supported by their organisation, leaders, and colleagues, when they feel they have good relationships with those they work alongside, when they feel a sense of mutual trust and respect with their colleagues, when they have a sense of autonomy in the work they do and are provided with adequate training and resources to do the job to the best of their ability, they are in the best position to feel mentally well at work. These things will also put them in the best position to feel psychologically safe at work.

When staff are experiencing stress or burnout, they will often feel less confident in themselves, their abilities and their opinions. This lack of confidence can also reduce how psychologically safe they feel. Similarly, when staff don’t feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to hide the signs that they are experiencing stress or burnout and avoid asking for support.

Good workplace wellbeing and psychological safety go hand in hand. A climate of patience, support, innovation and development keeps staff well and keeps them feeling psychologically safe.

Is this another thing I need to add to my to-do list?

The short answer to this is no. Encouraging or developing psychological safety within the workplace is not an additional task to be completed, it’s not an additional item to add to an already full to-do list. It is part and parcel of how you lead, day-to-day. It comes through the conversations you have with staff, the relationships you form with them, the decisions that you make with them. Through these, you have the power to create a psychologically safe environment without giving yourself any additional work to do.

We hope, that through these FAQs, it is clear that psychological safety is not just about another “buzz word”, and that just talking about it won’t create it. We hope it is also clear that what is important is the way you behave, the culture you create in the workplace, and the way your team interacts with one another. The goal of improving these is to create a workplace where staff are healthy, happy and thriving. Good psychological safety is an added bonus to collect along the way.