Psychological Safety
“Low levels of psychological safety can create a culture of silence. They can also create a Cassandra culture – an environment in which speaking up is belittled and warnings go unheeded” -Amy Edmonson
- Edmondson, A. C. (2019). The fearless organization: creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Psychological Safety
In a psychologically safe workplace, employees are confident in their ability to speak up, ask questions, and raise concerns without fear of being shamed or punished. The psychologically safe workplace is one in which interpersonal fear is decidedly unwelcome. Many research studies have shown that psychologically safe work environments contribute to better team decisions, performance, effectiveness, and learning.
Harvard Business School professor, Dr. Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety in the workplace as “a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” According to Dr. Edmonson, “the concept is not the same as “group cohesiveness,” which can “reduce willingness to disagree and challenge others’ views, such as in the phenomenon of groupthink.” Moreover, the term is not meant to suggest “a careless sense of permissiveness” or “an unrelentingly positive affect.” Instead, psychological safety is the sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject, or punish someone for speaking up. This confidence stems from mutual respect and trust among team members”. –Amy Edmonson
- Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999
Helpful Links
- Podcast, Monkhouse & Company, How to Build Psychological Safety in Your Workplace with The Fearless Organization Author, Amy C. Edmondson
- YouTube Video, Tedx Talks, Building a Psychologically Safe Workplace, Amy Edmondson