Psychological safety

"Psychological safety is the most important factor for high team performance." This key finding from Google’s 2012 Aristoteles Project has been supported by numerous studies. If you want to improve employee engagement, understanding this concept is crucial.

What is psychological safety?

Psychological safety, as defined by Professor Amy Edmondson, is a team climate where individuals feel safe to take interpersonal risks—such as sharing ideas, concerns, or mistakes—without fear of punishment or being shamed. This acceptance enables team members to contribute fully and authentically.

Psychological safety is not about making everyone feel comfortable.

Psychological safety is about being comfortable in conflict.

Psychological safety is hindered by being too rude (personal attacks), but also by being too nice (artificial harmony). Psychological safety emerges at the sweet spot of giving constructive conflict.

Effects of psychological safety

Improves quality, efficiency, and productivity [1a][1b] .
Enhances the acquisition and processing of knowledge, both new and existing, critical for overall team performance [2].
Increases innovation and creativity in team outcomes [3a][3b].
Enables increased team performance through diversity. Without psychological safety, diversity can harm performance [4].
Fosters helping behaviors among team members [5].
Increases organizational identification [5].

Factors influencing psychological safety

Higher-status individuals feel more secure [6a][6b].
Shared leadership and distributing responsibilities [7].
Leaders who show appreciation [8a], integrity [8b], and adopt a coaching approach [8c]
Strong interpersonal relationships with emotional resilience [9a] [9b].
A sense of safety in carrying out tasks, in particular a constructive approach to mistakes [10a], autonomy [6b], availability of information and resources [8c], and appreciation of diversity [10b].

Assessing psychological safety

Assess the current state of psychological safety using surveys or interviews to develop action plans. Amy Edmondson's survey [11] to assess psychological safety is known as the Team Psychological Safety Scale consisting of these seven questions rated on a 5-point Likert scale.

If you make a mistake on this team, it is not held against you.
Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues.
People on this team sometimes reject others for being different (reverse-scored).
It is safe to take a risk on this team.
It is easy to ask other members of this team for help.
No one on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts.
Working with members of this team, my unique skills and talents are valued.

Credit

Credit for pulling all these sources together goes to Lyn von der Laden. She wrote a couple of posts [German] about understanding and strengthening psychological safety and psychological safety from the perspective of the nervous system.

Here is my conversation with Lyn about psychological safety, or as she prefers to call it "perceived social safety". I found most interesting how she relates it to the nervous system, trauma, and status.

Sources

[1a] Li, N. & Yan, J. (2009). The effects of trust climate on individual performance. Frontiers of Business Research in China, 3 (1), 27-49.

[1b] Lee, J., Swink, M. & Pandejpong, T. (2011). The Roles of Worker Expertise, Information Sharing Quality, and Psychological Safety in Manufacturing Process Innovation: An Intellectual Capital Perspective. Production and Operation Management, 20 (4), 446-570.

[2] Kostopoulos, K. & Bozionelos, N. (2011). Team exploratory and exploitative learning: Psychological safety, task conflict, and team performance. Group and Organization Management, 36 (3), 385 – 415.

[3a] Post, C. (2012). Deep-Level Team Composition and Innovation: The Mediating Roles of Psychological Safety and Cooperative. Learning Group & Organization Management, 37(5), 555–588.

[3b] Gu, Q., Wang, G. & Wang, L. (2013). Social capital and innovation in R&D teams: the mediating roles of psychological safety and learning from mistakes. R & D Management, 43 (2), 89-102.

[4] Martins, L., Schilpzand, M., Kirkman, B., Ivanaj, S. & Ivanjaj, V. (2013). A Contingency View of the Effects of Cognitive Diversity on Team Performance: The Moderating Roles of Team Psychological Safety and Relationship Conflict. Small Group Research, 44 (2), 96-126.

[5] Singh, B. & Winkel, D. (2012). Racial Differences in Helping Behaviors: The Role of Respect, Safety and Identification. Journal of Business Ethics, 106, 467-477.

[6a] Nembhard, I. & Edmondson, A. (2006). Making it safe: The effects of leader inclusiveness and professional status on psychological safety and improvement efforts in health care teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27, 941-966.

[6b] Kahn, W. (1990). Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work. The Academy of Management Journal, 33 (4), 692-724.

[7] Liu, S., Hu, J., Li, Y, Wang, Z. & Lin, X. (2014). Examining the cross-level relationship between shared leadership and learning in teams: Evidence from China. The Leadership Quarterly, 25, 282-295.

[8a] Tynan, R. (2005). The Effects of Threat Sensitivity and Face Giving on Dyadic Psychological Safety an Upward Communication. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35 (2), 223-247.

[8b] Palanski, M. & Vogelgesang, G. (2011). Virtuous Creativity: The effects of leader behavioural integrity on follower creative thinking and risk taking. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 28, 259 – 269.

[8c] Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44 (2), 350-383.

[9a] Carmeli, A., Brueller, D. & Dutton, J. (2009). The role of high-quality interpersonal relationships and psychological safety. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 26, 81-98.

[9b] May, D.R., Gilson, R. L. & Hartner, L. (2004). The psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety and availability and the engagement of the human spirit at work. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77, 11-37.

[10a] Schein, E. (1992) How can organizations learn faster? The problem of entering the green room. Working Paper, MIT.

[10b] Singh, B., Winkel, D. & Selvarajan, T. (2012). Managing diversity at work: Does psychological safety hold the key to racial differences in employee performance? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 86, 242-263.

[11] Edmondson, A. (2012). Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy. Jossey-Bass.