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Boost productivity by 21%
Psychological safety is frequently mentioned in conversations about workplace culture, yet it’s just as often misunderstood. Despite being one of the most important factors for effective collaboration and innovation, many companies struggle to make it part of the everyday experience.
In this article, we look at common misconceptions and offer practical advice for those looking to create a more psychologically safe workplace through meaningful change, actionable feedback and thoughtful leadership.
Related: What is psychological safety?
There are a lot of myths and misconceptions circulating around psychological safety — here are a few pervasive ones we have noticed.
Surface-level politeness isn’t the same as psychological safety. Employees might nod in meetings, agree with ideas or avoid asking questions, but underneath, they may feel silenced or disengaged. A psychologically safe workplace allows people to challenge the status quo and raise concerns without being labelled difficult.
A workplace that avoids conflict at all costs is not psychologically safe — it’s one where important conversations are buried. High-performing teams aren’t free from disagreement. They are free to disagree openly, knowing it won’t harm relationships or careers.
Constructive tension leads to better decisions, more creativity and fewer blind spots. Research from Google’s Project Aristotle found that psychological safety was the most consistent predictor of team effectiveness — not the absence of conflict, but the ability to handle it well.
Whether your organisation is a creative agency, construction firm, tech scale-up or public sector body, psychological safety affects outcomes like retention, innovation and risk management. The aviation industry is a clear example — when Boeing employees feared raising safety concerns, it contributed to fatal accidents.
But it’s not just high-risk sectors where silence is harmful. In every type of organisation, employees need to feel that their input matters and won’t be penalised.
Some leaders worry that a psychologically safe workplace might create complacency. In fact, research shows the opposite. Teams with high psychological safety were more likely to meet deadlines, deliver on targets and learn from setbacks.
What’s important is that psychological safety is balanced with clear accountability. It’s not about avoiding performance conversations; it’s about having them in a respectful and fair way.
While senior leaders set the tone, psychological safety is shaped by everyone. Peer relationships, line manager behaviour and cross-functional dynamics all contribute. A culture where employees look out for each other, speak up for fairness, and include others in decisions helps build a psychologically safe workplace from the ground up.
Related: What are the 4 stages of psychological safety?
In a psychologically safe workplace, people speak honestly without worrying how their words will be received. Feedback flows upwards as well as down. Employees ask questions, challenge ideas and admit mistakes without fear of embarrassment or retribution. Conversations are inclusive. Decisions are explained. The working environment feels fair, respectful and human.
So what does it look like when psychological safety is missing?
You might see tension go unspoken. People will be agreeable during meetings but raise concerns in private, or not at all. Constructive challenge is rare. Small behaviours signal big problems — like a leader sighing or frowning when receiving bad news. Broken promises, exclusionary discussions or inconsistent leadership behaviour can all chip away at confidence. When managers micromanage or take credit for others’ work, employees may choose to keep their ideas to themselves.
Organisational culture is reflected in how people talk about their workplace, and whether they talk about it at all. Silence can speak volumes. If employees rarely challenge decisions, raise concerns or voice ideas, it may signal low trust or fear of negative consequences.
Informal feedback (or the absence of it) is just as revealing as formal indicators. Patterns of disengagement, like biased recognition processes or unclear succession routes, contribute to a sense of unfairness. Employees also notice when change is directed without being demonstrated — for example, when senior leaders push return-to-office policies without modelling that same shift themselves. These inconsistencies create a disconnect and gradually undermine psychological safety.
Several high-profile failures have drawn attention to the human cost of poor psychological safety:
On the other side, there are companies known for creating environments where employees feel heard:
These examples show that building a psychologically safe workplace isn’t about perks or slogans. It’s about consistency, clarity and how people treat each other when nobody’s watching.
Making meaningful change starts with small, repeatable actions. Here are some tangible steps to create a more psychologically safe workplace:
You don’t need grand initiatives to start creating a psychologically safe workplace. You need to listen — often, and with genuine intent to act. That’s where employee feedback plays a central role.
Without a way to consistently listen to employees across the full experience — from onboarding to exit — it’s hard to know whether your culture supports speaking up, learning from mistakes and making change stick.
An employee survey, done right, is a chance to build trust, gather actionable feedback and show that people’s voices matter.
Ready to understand how psychologically safe your workplace really is?
Get in touch to explore how our employee surveys can help you make meaningful change.
