Did you know…
Teams that feel psychologically safe outperform those that don’t; not because they make fewer mistakes, but because they’re willing to surface them, learn, and improve. Harvard’s Amy Edmondson lists five leadership moves that reliably raise safety:
frame work as learning, acknowledge fallibility, model curiosity, solicit input, and share personal working styles.
At Toyota, any worker can pull an andon cord without fear of blame; leaders rush in to coach and fix the system, not the person. Scrum pioneer Mike Cohn calls this a “fallibility model,” showing that “bugs, bad decisions, and problems can be discussed without repercussion”.
Ok, So What?
In organizations where executives control career paths, even well-meaning encouragement to “speak up” rings hollow if missteps are punished (or quietly remembered). Fear drives ideas underground, stifles experimentation, and slows innovation. Cultivating psychological safety converts hidden defects into treasures for improvement, boosts engagement and retention, and frees leaders to spend time on systemic fixes instead of firefighting the same issues.
Now What?
Five leadership habits to start practicing this week:
| Habit | How to Train / Coach Leaders | Field Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Model vulnerability first | Open each staff meeting with a “leader’s learning moment”–a small recent mistake and the lesson extracted. Reinforce that learning > saving face. | Reward the next employee who shares a slip with rapid help, not ridicule. |
| Respond, don’t react | Teach the “Just Culture” triage: console honest error, coach at-risk behavior, correct recklessness. | Use a visible decision tree so managers default to system inquiry before blame. |
| Create safe dialogue structures | Facilitate retros or design reviews with ORID focused-discussion so every voice is heard without interruption. | Rotate the facilitator role to signal trust. |
| Make experiments small & reversible | Encourage 1-day, low-risk tests (“fail small, learn fast”) instead of 6-month projects. | Track learnings captured alongside traditional KPIs. |
| Measure & nurture trust | Use an anonymous 12-question safety pulse and share the results widely. Co-create one improvement action per low-scoring item. | Celebrate movement, not perfection—safety is a trend, not a toggle. |
Questions to think about:
- When was the last time you admitted a mistake to your team?
- How would a frontline employee describe the consequence of pulling the figurative andon cord today?
- Which system barriers (metrics, approvals, hierarchy) silently punish experimentation?
- What visible rituals (ceremonies, wallboards, Slack channels) could honor lessons learned each week?
- How will you know psychological safety is improving? What behavioral evidence will you look for?
Spend one hour with us to pinpoint your team’s unique communication gaps and facilitation needs. You’ll slash friction, unlock hidden insights, and turn “no questions” into breakthrough ideas, saving your organization real dollars and driving change from day one.