Psychological Safety exists in a workplace when individuals feel safe to express themselves, ask questions, and admit mistakes without the fear of embarrassment, negative consequences, or punishment. Amy Edmondson, a Harvard Business School professor extensively studied and popularized the term Psychological Safety.

While physical safety is readily apparent (a person wearing safety glasses), psychological safety is invisible to the eye. This is one of the reasons why psychological safety is not present in many good organizations.

Consider a few key insights from Edmonson.

• Teams demonstrate increased learning, innovation, and overall performance by encouraging open communication and vulnerability
• Leaders play a pivotal role in establishing psychological safety by modeling vulnerability, demonstrating curiosity, and responding well to constructive feedback.
• Creating a “learning zone” where teams feel safe to openly discuss mistakes to improve
• Higher levels of innovation translate to teams finding creative solutions to reduce risk and improve processes.

Psychological safety is not a “nice to have” but a “must have” for teams to establish a world class safety culture. Psychological safety is not about being nice and doesn’t mean avoiding tough conversations or providing corrective feedback. It is about creating an environment where those discussions occur regularly, respectfully, and productively.

There are some barriers to overcome in developing psychological safety. These barriers prevent your employees from speaking up, even when seeing safety risks.

The more common barriers we have helped companies identify and guided them to overcome include:

• Hierarchical structures
• Lack of Trust
• Fear of being perceived as incompetent
• History – Prior management actions, discipline, and terminations
• OSHA regulation focus on Physical Safety
• Most if not all safety activities (orientation, inspections, training, etc.) performed in companies and by safety professionals focus on Physical Safety

Psychological safety doesn’t emerge by accident – it requires deliberate actions and consistent reinforcement of behaviors, practices, and processes. It takes commitment, consistency, patience, and time to develop.

Below are 5 elements to strategically create psychological safety in your business:

• Intentional – Make psychological safety a value or a focus, with quarterly activities
• Facilitate – In every interaction, meeting request people speak up
• Establish – A new norm on how accidents and incidents (failures) are handled
• Create – Space for new ideas, including wild ideas.
• Embrace – Constructive feedback and productive conflict

Practical examples of how you can apply the 5 elements:

• Develop Leaders to model vulnerability
• Lead with Care in every action
• Build Trust

Please check out my prior blogs, which contain numerous gold nuggets you can act upon and begin building psychological safety today.

• Creating a Culture of Accountability the Right Way
• Why Do We Act the Way We Do
• Power of Feedback
• Creating Safety Engagement
• The Power of Three
• Keeping Score
• Highly Effective Recognition
• Leadership Development
• Safety Task Force
• Learning from Incidents

Decide to become Intentional and develop Psychological Safety
Utilize the 5 Elements and Blog Gold Nuggets which are proven to yield success
Hire a Guide who is experienced and will accelerate you on this journey

In 1995, my wife and I packed up and moved west in pursuit of opportunity and the dream of building a future for our family. Today, 29 years later, our twins—our greatest pride—are beginning their own journeys at rival colleges in Arizona. They are my “Why,” the driving force behind everything I do, including my passion for workplace safety and accountability.

Over the past 30 years, I’ve worked across multiple industries as a Certified Safety Professional (CSP), leading efforts to create safer, more accountable work environments. From commercial insurance companies to some of the largest construction firms in the country, I’ve seen how accountability—or the lack of it—can make or break an organization. In 2012, my partners and I founded a safety consulting firm, built from scratch, with a shared mission to improve workplace safety.

Through it all, one thing has remained clear: a culture of accountability is the bedrock of highly successful businesses. But it’s not just about policies and procedures—it’s about engaging and empowering people to take ownership of their work and safety. It’s about showing that you genuinely care about your people. In this blog series, I’ll explore how leaders can foster this culture and, in turn, create engaged, safer, and more resilient organizations.

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