Early on at Evoluno, just before launching a new onboarding feature, one of our engineers noticed a bug that could cause issues for users on older Android devices.
It wasn’t a blocker for most users, and the deadline was tight, so he didn’t say anything.
He wasn’t trying to hide it. He just wasn’t sure it was serious enough to bring up. He didn’t want to derail the release or seem like he was nitpicking.
We didn’t discover the issue until the client did.
When we dug into it, it wasn’t about our culture. It was about conditioning. Smart, well-intentioned people had learned, often from past jobs, that speaking up could backfire. That questioning something might come off as dumb. That pointing out a problem might look like pointing fingers.
So we made it a priority. We invited honest feedback, asked open questions, shared our own doubts out loud. We created space for disagreement. And over time, people stopped holding back. Ideas got sharper. Mistakes became learning moments. Our work, and our team, got stronger.
That, in a nutshell, is psychological safety.
Psychological safety is the feeling that you can speak up at work without fear of being punished or embarrassed. It’s about knowing that your ideas, questions, and even mistakes will be met with curiosity, not criticism.
The concept dates back to the 1960s, but it gained real attention thanks to Harvard professor Amy Edmondson in the late 1990s. She showed that teams perform better when people feel safe to take interpersonal risks like sharing a bold idea, asking a “dumb” question, or admitting an error.
When psychological safety is missing, a lot goes wrong. People stay quiet about mistakes, which slows down learning and progress. Teams avoid taking risks, so innovation stalls. And collaboration suffers because people don’t feel free to challenge ideas or suggest new ones.
Scientific research backs this up. A foundational study published by Cornell University found that psychological safety improves team performance by encouraging what’s called learning behavior. This refers to the everyday actions that help teams grow, like asking questions, giving feedback, admitting mistakes, and trying new approaches.
When these behaviors are welcomed rather than punished, teams communicate more openly, reflect more often, and improve faster. That’s why psychological safety supports three things every company needs: productivity, creativity, and growth. It helps people collaborate without fear, experiment without shame, and keep moving forward even when things don’t go as planned.
One of the most well-known studies on psychological safety came from inside Google. In a multi-year project known as Project Aristotle, researchers tried to uncover what made certain teams more effective than others. The most important factor? Psychological safety. Not seniority, not personality, not education; just the shared belief that it was safe to speak openly.
“The right norms, in other words, could raise the collective intelligence of the group. And that meant Google’s best teams were not made of the smartest people, but rather the most psychologically safe ones."
— New York Times Magazine
This discovery led Google to rethink how teams were structured, how meetings were run, and how leaders showed up. The result? Better performance, more innovation, and healthier teams.
Not all failures are equal. Some are harmful and avoidable, like forgetting to follow a known process. Others happen in complex systems where things just go wrong, despite best efforts. Then there are “intelligent failures”, the ones that come from well-designed experiments. These are the most valuable because they teach us something new.
A psychologically safe team knows how to tell the difference. They avoid careless mistakes but embrace smart risks, knowing that learning is part of the deal.
Nike Europe’s IT division implemented a practice called Obeya, a Lean management tool that turns strategy into action through shared visual spaces. These “Obeya rooms” became a place where teams could meet, surface problems, and align around shared goals.
The key was trust. With goals, blockers, and KPIs made visible on the walls, the room became a judgment-free zone. People could flag issues without fear. Leaders listened. Progress was tracked together.
“We created a safety zone where goals and problems are visible and can be discussed openly. That’s what led to real innovation."
— Fred Mathijssen, senior director of Technology for Nike Europe
Nike’s example shows that psychological safety doesn’t have to be soft, it can be built into hard systems. When visibility is paired with respect, teams thrive.
Some workplaces make it hard to speak up, even if they don’t mean to. In cultures where hierarchy matters a lot, junior team members may stay quiet around their managers. In companies with strict rules and traditions, new ideas can feel risky or out of place.
If leaders are distant or unapproachable, people are less likely to raise concerns. And if the company rewards only success and punishes every mistake, employees will keep their heads down, even when they see a better way.
The Boeing 737 Max crisis is a cautionary tale of what happens when psychological safety breaks down. Engineers and staff were aware of safety concerns with the aircraft’s software systems, but many didn’t speak up. Or felt they couldn’t.
“The lack of psychological safety at Boeing was most assuredly a significant factor in the 737 Max crisis.”
— Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University
This failure to listen,to create space for dissent, led to a tragedy that could have been prevented. The lesson is clear: silence at work is never neutral. It can cost lives.
Psychological safety doesn’t appear overnight. It’s something leaders and teams build together over time. The good news is, it starts with small shifts in behavior, reinforced by consistent systems and habits. Here’s how to lay the foundation and turn it into daily practice.
You can’t fix what you can’t see. Begin by assessing the current state of psychological safety in your teams. Ask questions like: Do people feel safe raising concerns? Are mistakes discussed openly? Are all voices heard in meetings or just the loudest? These insights help you focus your efforts where it matters most.
Tip: Include psychological safety questions in your engagement surveys (e.g. “I feel comfortable bringing up problems or tough issues at work.”)
Psychological safety starts at the top. When leaders show vulnerability by admitting mistakes, asking for input, or saying “I don’t know”, they create space for others to do the same. Even a simple phrase like “What am I missing here?” invites openness and signals that it’s safe to speak up. When managers model curiosity over control, the entire team follows suit.
Safety doesn’t mean the absence of structure. In fact, clear roles and goals make people feel more secure. When team members know what’s expected of them, and how to give and receive feedback respectfully, they’re more likely to challenge ideas and take initiative without fear of crossing a line. Psychological safety thrives when trust and accountability are balanced.
Teams that grow are teams that experiment. But that only works when failure isn’t treated like weakness. Encourage reflection after projects, even the ones that didn’t go as planned. Focus on what can be learned rather than who’s to blame. Use language that separates the person from the outcome. When people know they won’t be punished for trying something new, they start taking bolder, smarter risks.
Train your managers to be coaches, not just task-drivers. The key is fostering open dialogue. That starts with three essential leadership skills: active listening, transparency, and support. Help leaders speak last, listen deeply, and create space for every voice in the room, especially those who tend to hold back.
Encourage a mindset that balances measured tolerance for mistakes with a strong emphasis on accountability and continuous improvement. This isn’t about adding more training, it’s about shifting leadership culture from authority to trust.
Psychological safety can’t rely on good intentions alone, it needs to be supported by systems. Recognize collaborative behaviors in performance reviews. Include psychological safety in leadership evaluations. Celebrate the moments when someone spoke up, challenged the status quo, or admitted a mistake. These are the building blocks of a resilient, innovative team culture.
To make psychological safety last, it needs to be more than a practice, it has to be part of who you are. That means embedding it into how you hire, promote, and reward. Go beyond outcomes: value experimentation, reflection, and healthy dialogue.
Make it part of your values, and reflect it in your HR policies and team rituals. And importantly, connect it to equity and inclusion. When people feel seen and respected, they’re more likely to speak up. Safety, inclusion, and performance go hand in hand.
Everyone wants to feel safe at work. It’s not just a nice-to-have, it’s a foundation for learning, growth, and success. In fast-changing environments, psychological safety helps teams adapt, innovate, and thrive.
Companies that invest in it see better ideas, stronger collaboration, and higher performance. The question isn’t whether you can afford to create psychological safety, it’s whether you can afford not to.
So where do you begin? You don’t need a big program or a change initiative. Just ask your team what would make it easier to speak up and listen closely. The smallest shift in tone, trust, or habit can open the door to something bigger.
Want help putting things on the right path? We can help, and not just with our app.
Book a call to get to the next step!
Other sources :
Psychosocial safety climate: a multilevel theory of work stress in the health and community service sector, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22201204/
La sécurité psychologique au travail : une perspectivethéorique, https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/admachina/2023-n7-admachina09022/1108643ar.pdf
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