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Psychological Safety:
An Important Component for Safety in
the Workplace
Karen Allard
Paula Allen

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Session Overview
• Psychological safety has been referred to as the single most important characteristic for
successful teams and leads to decrease in turnover and increases in effectiveness.
• Psychological safety is the belief that your environment is safe for interpersonal risk-
taking meaning that asking questions, pointing out problems, and suggesting innovation
will be responded to in a respectful manner.

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Objectives
This presentation will cover:
• what psychological safety is,
• why it’s important,
• challenges to creating
• how to assess its presence,
• tips on how to grow this in your workplace.
Why? Psychological safety has been referred to as the single most important characteristic
for successful teams and leads to decrease in turnover and increases in effectiveness.

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Definition of Psychological Safety
A belief that it is safe to take interpersonal risks: that one
will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with
ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.
• Anyone can ask questions without looking stupid.
• Anyone can ask for feedback without looking incompetent.
• Anyone can be respectfully critical without appearing negative.
• Anyone can suggest innovative ideas without being perceived as
disruptive.

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The history of Psychological Safety
1960’s
Schein and Bennis: “a person’s
anxiety about being basically
accepted and worthwhile"
Deming: “Drive out fear, so
that everyone may work
effectively for the company”
1990’s
Kahn: “employ or express themselves
physically, cognitively, and emotionally”
Edmondson: Discovered that teams with
better outcomes were admitting more
mistakes while teams with fewer good
outcomes were more likely to hide
mistakes

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Importance of Psychological Safety
“The growing body of knowledge on psychological safety in the workplace has flourished in
recent years, as organizations devote more resources and time to deepen the
understanding of the factor role in driving effectiveness. “
“Psychological Safety…
- is one of the key factors contributing to better performance of organizations
- stimulates work engagement
- promotes a knowledge-sharing environment
- positively impacts job satisfaction”

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Importance of Psychological Safety
A 2017 Gallup poll revealed
that just three in 10 U.S. workers strongly agree that at work, their opinions seem to count.
However, by moving that ratio to six in 10 employees, organizations could realize a 27%
reduction in turnover, a 40% reduction in safety incidents and a 12% increase in productivity.
Other research has shown greater return on assets, innovation in R & D teams, increases in
manufacturing process innovation performance, higher goal achievement, and increases in
successful implementation of new technology.
Google’s research on characteristics of high-performing teams identified psychological safety as
their top indicator of the performance of a team

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Organizational Challenges for Psychological Safety
Unequal power distribution and status
Negative consequences for honest
mistakes
Unwillingness of leaders to consider
the opinions of employees

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Personal Challenges for Psychological Safety

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How to assess Psychological Safety
• If you make a mistake on your team, is it held against you?
• Are you able to bring up problems and tough issues?
• Do people on the team sometimes reject others for being different?
• Is it safe to take a risk?
• Is it difficult to ask other team members for help?
• Do people on the team deliberately act to undermine your efforts?
• Are your unique skills and talents valued and utilized?
Suggest this as Survey Monkey or annual survey

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How to grow Psychological Safety
Setting the Stage Inviting Participation Responding Productively
Leadership Tasks Frame the Work
• Set expectations
about failure,
uncertainty, and
interdependence to
clarify the need for
voice
Emphasize Purpose
• Identify what’s at
stake, why it matters,
and for whom it
matters
Demonstrate Situational
Humility
• Acknowledge gaps
Practice Inquiry
• Ask good questions
• Model intense listening
Set Up Structures and
Processes
• Create forums for input
• Provide guidelines for
discussion
Express Appreciation
• Listen
• Acknowledge and
thank
Destigmatize Failure
• Look forward
• Offer help
• Discuss, consider, and
brainstorm next steps
Sanction Clear Violations
Accomplishes Shared expectations and
meaning
Confidence that voice is
welcome
Orientation toward
continuous learning

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Creating Psychological Safety

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Team Members and Psychological Safety
Agree to share failures,
recognizing that mistakes
are an opportunity to learn
and grow
Ask for help and freely give
help when asked
Embrace expertise among
many versus a single “hero
mentality”
Encourage and express
gratitude which reinforces
team members sense of self
Ask powerful open-ended
questions then listen
actively and intently to
understand

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Bellin’s commitment to Psychological Safety
Civilitas – a team whose work encompasses how to spread and encourage psychological safety
through discussion. Utilize a monthly video and questions to spark conversation.
Include in new leader orientation.
Culture of Safety results include elements of psychological safety. Pulse survey incorporating the
specific seven questions was administered in June. Will incorporate the psychological safety
questions into the next combined Culture of Safety/Employee Engagement survey.
Weaving this in to the entire patient safety program we are designing.

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Example of Psychological Safety work - Civilitas

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Questions?

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Reference Page
• Aranzamendez, G., James, D., & Toms, R. (2015, July). Finding antecedents of psychological safety: A step toward quality improvement. In Nursing forum (Vol. 50, No. 3, pp.
171-178).
• Atlanta Small Business Network. (2021). How to Create Psychological Safety for Your Small Business. Retrieved from: https://www.myasbn.com/small-business/culture/how-
to-create-psychological-safety-for-your-small-business-staff/
• Center for Creative Leadership. (2021). What is Psychological Safety at Work? Retrieved from: https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/what-is-psychological-
safety-at-work/
• Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. John Wiley & Sons.
• Edmondson, A. (2014). Building a psychologically safe workplace [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8
• Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative science quarterly, 44(2), 350-383.
• Frankel, A., Haraden, C., Federico, F., & Lenoci-Edwards, J. (2017). A framework for safe, reliable, and effective care. Cambridge: Institute for Healthcare Improvement and
Safe & Reliable Healthcare.
• Geraghty, T. (2021). Psychological Safety – History, Concepts and Application. Retrieved from: https://www.psychsafety.co.uk/about-psychological-safety/
• Herway, J. (2017). How to Create a Culture of Psychological Safety. Retrieved from: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236198/create-culture-psychological-safety.aspx
• Newman, Dohohue, and Eva. (2017). Psychological safety: A systematic review of the literature. Human Resource Management Review.
• Obrenovic, B., Jianguo, D., Khudaykulov, A., & Khan, M. A. S. (2020). Work-family conflict impact on psychological safety and psychological well-being: A job performance
model. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 475.
• Tocco, S., & DeFontes, J. (2014). Managing our fears to improve patient safety. Am Nurse Today, 9, 34-36.