Psychological Safety: What It Is (And Why It’s Not About Being ‘Nice’)
Let’s get clear on what we’re actually talking about when we talk about psychological safety.
Amy Edmondson defines it as:
“A belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.”
Notice that word: belief.
Psychological safety is about perception, not intention. You might think your team knows they can speak freely, but if they’re not acting like it, something's missing. The gap between what a leader intends and what a team feels is where the trust breaks down. What looks like "good intentions" to you can feel like "gaslighting" to them if your systems don't back up your words.
The Difference Between Safety and Comfort in Organizational Culture
This is where many organizations can get stuck.
Psychological safety is often conflated with a need for endless comfort, coddling, or letting standards slide. It’s what we call toxic comfort - a system that values avoiding hard feelings over pursuing hard truths.
But the opposite is true. Psychological safety is not about lowering the bar; it’s about removing the fear that keeps people from reaching it.
Edmondson’s research shows that the highest-performing teams operate in the quadrant of:
High Psychological Safety
High Accountability and Excellence
They don’t fear punishment, so they’re free to be vulnerable, ask for help, and share their most disruptive ideas. They care deeply about the mission, and they trust the system enough to handle their critique.
Why True Safety Increases Accountability and Inclusion
If people are afraid to name a mistake, that mistake becomes an organizational blind spot that will inevitably surface later, but at a far greater cost.
Inclusion isn't an initiative. It’s a skillset. And the highest-level skill you need is the ability to handle complexity and conflict without resorting to shaming or silencing.
If your staff doesn't feel safe to say, "That policy contradicts our values," or "I need a day off because my mental health is suffering," then your system has effectively silenced the very feedback needed to reach your mission. You are snuffing out the things that aren't "immediately productive" and missing out on the insights that could transform your outcomes.
Building Structural Alignment Beyond "Being Nice"
To foster true safety, you must actively bridge the systemic and the personal. This means:
You must be willing to be wrong. If the leader cannot tolerate dissent, the team will prioritize consensus over mission-critical honesty.
The consequences for mistakes must be clear and proportional. When people understand the structure of accountability, they know that they won't be humiliated for a good-faith error.
Culture isn't what's in the handbook. It's what people feel when no one's watching.
When you invest in true psychological safety, you aren't being "nice." You are being strategic. You are maximizing your team's access to their own collective knowledge, ensuring that the necessary truths — the difficult questions, the hidden struggles, the bold ideas — come to the surface.
And that is how you build a resilient, high-capacity organization.
