Creating Psychological Safety at Work: The Critical Role of Leadership

Let’s face it. It’s been one hell of a ride recently. The pandemic, workplace closures, and transformations have taken their toll on today’s leaders. 

It’s no longer surprising that harmful work environments, conflict, and reduced productivity lead to high turnover, burnout, and decreased employee engagement. But when skilled leaders create psychologically safe workplaces, employees perform their best, and their businesses thrive.

With one in five workers (20%) taking time off from work because of poor mental health due to stress or pressure, learning and development (L&D) is critical in equipping leaders with the skills to support their teams and creating a culture of psychological safety.  

This article will help you understand the role of leadership in creating psychological safety. Learn about psychosocial hazards and how they differ from psychological safety. Discover a framework for building a healthy and safe workplace.

We’ll cover:

• What is psychological safety in the workplace?
• What are workplace psychosocial hazards, and how are they different from psychological safety?
• Why does psychological safety at work matter?
• What does psychological safety mean for leadership?
• How can leaders build psychological safety at work?
• Introducing the 3Cs model for leadership
• 3Cs – Strategy in action
• Create high-trust environments with LIW

What is psychological safety in the workplace?

Psychological safety at work influences the entire employee experience, from collaboration and creativity to productivity and retention — every single day. When employees feel valued, respected, and safe to express themselves without fear of judgment or repercussions, it strengthens connection and well-being within the organisation. 

Three main theories and studies influence our thinking about maintaining a safe working environment.

1. Amy Edmondson’s definition

Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson first introduced the term "psychological safety" in 1999. She defined it as the belief that individuals won’t be punished for sharing ideas, asking questions, or admitting mistakes. Edmondson pointed out that psychological safety is key to high performance because it promotes open communication, innovation, and teamwork.

2. Google’s Project Aristotle

In a large study on teamwork, Google identified five key factors that make teams successful, with psychological safety being the most important. They found that teams where people felt safe to take risks and be vulnerable, performed the best – showing how important a psychologically safe environment is for boosting team success.

‍

3. Timothy Clarke’s Stages

In 2020, Timothy Clarke outlined four stages of psychological safety. He said individuals need to feel included, safe to learn, safe to contribute, and empowered to challenge the status quo. When these conditions are met, team members are fully engaged and perform better.

Source

Watch Timothy Clark explain it himself in this short video

‍

What are workplace psychosocial hazards, and how are they different from psychological safety?

Psychosocial hazards represent potential threats to employee well-being, while psychological safety refers to a work culture where employees feel secure enough to learn, challenge ideas, and take risks without fear of punishment. 

High-performing leaders create a supportive and inclusive atmosphere. They understand the psychosocial hazards that can impact employee well-being and create conditions promoting success. 

Why does psychological safety at work matter?

Overwhelmed teams, decreased productivity, and higher burnout rates make it harder for leaders to maintain a motivated and effective workforce. Since nine in ten adults experienced high or extreme stress in the past year, leaders who create a high-trust environment can improve productivity and reduce burnout rates.

Not only that, but only 58% of people feel comfortable discussing their mental health at work, suggesting people are struggling in silence. When leaders offer the right support for people to feel comfortable sharing their concerns, they create a workplace where employees are valued and less likely to seek a job elsewhere. It’s not difficult to see that when employees don’t receive the proper support and feel unable to share their concerns, they look for new job opportunities where they feel more valued and supported. This can lead to increased recruitment and training costs.

When L&D supports leaders in fostering psychological safety, team members feel comfortable expressing their thoughts, ideas, and concerns without fear of judgement or retaliation. This open communication leads to more effective collaboration and innovation.

Plus, happy workers are 13% more productive. When leaders ensure their employees feel safe and enjoy their work, they are more likely to actively participate in new developments and share their ideas for innovation.

Finally, leaders who cultivate psychological safety are better equipped to handle change and uncertainty. Leaders and their teams are more willing to adapt and support one another during transitions.

What does psychological safety mean for leadership?

When people feel safe, they can focus on their work instead of worrying about threats or judgment. Since leaders are responsible for creating the right environment to drive performance and achieve business goals, they need to understand psychological safety and learn how to foster it within their teams and organisations.

Just as a gardener prepares the soil before planting, L&D can help leaders cultivate the right conditions for a workplace where ideas flourish and employees thrive. Leaders can promote open communication, trust, and collaboration among team members by implementing leadership development programs that model positive behaviors.

What’s more, when L&D helps leaders master psychological safety, it trickles down to lower management –setting a powerful example when they interact with employees and are more likely to adopt similar practices, strengthening their relationships with team members. This makes it easier for everyone, regardless of role or seniority, to share their thoughts and concerns, discuss their mental health, voice disagreements, contribute ideas, and admit mistakes—all without fear of judgment.

How can leaders build psychological safety at work?

L&D can support leaders in creating a safe and productive work environment through robust leadership development programs that help them understand psychosocial hazards and create the optimal conditions for success. 

Let’s look at some effective leadership development strategies:

1. Dedicate leadership training on psychological safety

Provide leadership development programs to educate leaders on psychological safety, its importance, and how it impacts team performance. This training should align with broader L&D objectives and include practical examples and case studies.

2. Offer L&D initiatives that encourage vulnerability

Focus on developing essential skills such as active listening and empathy. These skills help leaders create an open environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and concerns.

Teach leaders how to facilitate open discussions where team members can voice their ideas and concerns without fear of judgement. Encourage leaders to model vulnerability by sharing their own challenges and failures. This can help normalise the idea that it’s okay to take risks and learn from mistakes.

3. Offer leadership workshops and role-playing opportunities

Help leaders make the connection between their everyday actions and how their decisions impact team dynamics.

Conduct workshops that allow leaders to practice responding to difficult conversations and managing conflicts. Role-playing scenarios can help them understand how to create a supportive atmosphere during challenging discussions.

4. Help leaders manage risks

In Australia, workplace health and safety laws now include psychosocial hazards, and other countries are likely to adopt similar measures.  Because these psychosocial hazards create challenges in keeping teams aligned and united, Worksafe Australia has developed a step-by-step guide to managing workplace risks:

• Identify hazards and eliminate them
• Assess the risk through substitution, isolation, and engineering controls – implementing restrictions on team contact 
• Reduce the risk through administrative controls – imposing rules through HR practices and L&D initiatives
• Check control measures – review and evaluate effectiveness 

Source

Introducing the 3Cs model for leadership

As the world shifts toward self-managing and self-performing teams and more flexible organisational structures, effective leadership is responsible for creating the conditions needed for success. 

LIW has developed the 3Cs model for leadership, which simplifies this process:

Source

The 3C’s model has been effective for over 25 years in creating the right conditions that drive performance and desired outcomes for teams and organisations from the Fortune 100 to start-ups, from Healthcare to Technology, from the USA to Africa, and all points in between. 

The model creates an optimum environment leaders can use when thinking about the critical elements needed to foster a psychologically safe environment and address the root cause of psychosocial hazards.

Clarity: create a sense of clarity and structure

L&D plays a critical role in helping leaders establish clarity and structure within their teams. When everyone clearly understands, "What do we want to achieve, and why?" it fosters a sense of belonging and inclusion. Even better, when this vision is co-created with the team, it allows everyone to contribute their ideas and see their thoughts reflected in the final goal. This shared purpose becomes something the entire team can rally behind, generating excitement and commitment as they work toward achieving it together.

• “This stressful and overwhelming version of busy can be down to a lack of alignment rather than a problem with execution. If you look around you, you’ll see a busy team, people getting things done; it’s just that those tasks might not be taking them any closer to the end goal.”  –Julie Lo Certo, Project Manager

Along with a clear vision, L&D can support leaders in defining roles and responsibilities. By introducing goal-setting frameworks, like our 3cs, leaders can ensure that each role supports the broader vision and that each team member knows how their contributions matter. Team members feel happier and safer when they understand the context, know what is expected of them, and have the support of their colleagues to accomplish their tasks.

L&D should help leaders understand when things are going well. Celebrating and recognising efforts, behaviour, and results together helps create a sense of achievement, team connection, and personal value.

Climate: build relationships and establish ways of working

In many job roles, including L&D, the focus is often on getting work done and letting relationships form along the way. This approach can lead to weak connections, especially when we come together to tackle problems or issues that hinder effective work. 

Without L&D proactively helping leaders build relationships or agreeing upon ways of working, it becomes harder to identify and address the root causes of leadership issues, and people may hesitate to share their experiences. For example, a leader might hesitate to talk about their difficulties with a fellow leader if they 1) don’t have an established relationship, 2) are afraid of being judged, or 3) haven’t formed genuine connections.

While it’s essential to encourage leaders to speak up, it’s equally crucial for L&D to listen and support them. By modelling curiosity by asking questions and genuinely engaging with what leaders say, it reinforces that everyone’s thoughts are valued, which increases confidence in leadership development programs.

Progress often depends on challenging ideas and engaging in healthy conflict. It’s beneficial to disagree and collaborate to find better solutions. L&D teams should be mindful of their responses when leaders challenge ideas. 

Encourage your leaders to try new things, focusing on learning rather than assigning blame. Mistakes are normal; the worst outcome is when people feel they can’t share their mistakes or admit faults. How leaders respond to mistakes sets the tone for the entire team.

Finally, make feedback normal and helpful. L&D teams can create an environment where feedback is welcomed and seen as helpful for everyone’s growth, not a criticism of performance.

Why not start by sharing L&D feedback publicly and encouraging leaders to share their thoughts, whether in agreement or with alternative views? After sharing personal feedback, encourage healthy conflict and positive challenges. 

To sum up, strong relationships build trust, empathy, openness, and respect. Take the time to make these connections, and everything will run more smoothly. Encourage open and curious conversations with your leaders and help them quickly create psychological safety.

Competence

Creating a culture of practice within a team achieves two important things:

1. It reduces the fear of making mistakes. Since practice is about learning from experiences, it allows team members to understand that perfection isn’t the goal.
2. When team members feel they don’t have to be perfect, this boosts their psychological safety and encourages them to take risks without fear of negative consequences.

Start by observing leaders to understand their experiences. Check any assumptions you make beforehand; you may be wrong. Actively listen and ask questions to understand leaders’ perspectives.

Remember to regularly check in with leadership, asking how they’re doing and what they need and providing appropriate support to show they are valued. This increases feelings of well-being and belonging, enhancing psychological safety for them and their teams.

3Cs – Strategy in action

We partnered with a global pharma team and applied the 3Cs framework (Clarity, Climate, and Competence) to improve teamwork, collaboration, and effectiveness despite limited resources.

1. Clarity: They developed a shared vision, aligning their team goals with the company's overall strategy and breaking them down into individual objectives and KPIs.
2. Climate: The team fostered a learning culture, building trust and a "growth mindset." Sharing personal goals and experiences strengthened relationships within and outside the team.
3. Competence: They improved their feedback and coaching skills and created a 5-step Personal Effectiveness Plan to guide behaviours and ways of working, enhancing team and individual performance.

As a result, the team experienced high retention and promotions and took on a major role in global decision-making. Their priority-setting template was adopted across Asia and globally. Team members feel a greater sense of belonging and engagement, which flows through to performance. 

“The biggest difference I see in this team is the transparency of information sharing and the inclusiveness with which the team makes decisions. This makes me feel a deeper bond to the core concept of the team and a stronger ownership of the outcomes.’

This new approach has future-proofed the team by making them more able to address changing market conditions:

‘We are working smarter as a team so that as new challenges present themselves, we have a mindset for prioritisation and reinvention. Nothing is off the table – so we reflect and learn together to develop new ways of working that serve the business effectively.”

The team leader is convinced that the 3Cs framework and the confidence that team members have to feel included, speak up, and challenge themselves allow them to contribute in a way that drives the team and the business forward.

“This cultural transformation has delivered greater alignment to the organisation strategy, better efficiency in delivering team projects, skill building for all team members as they support each other to learn, and speeded up onboarding of new team members. It’s utterly transformed the team and how they feel about their work and about their team mates.”

Create high-trust leadership and environments with LIW

For years, we’ve collaborated with our clients and partners to help create the conditions for success in their businesses. Now, more than ever, this feels like our true calling as we strive to improve lives by transforming the work experience — through leadership.

At LIW, we specialise in helping L&D teams build psychological safety, resilience, and collaboration through proven frameworks like the 3Cs. By focusing on clarity, climate, and competence, you can empower your team to feel safe and supported. This not only helps them stay healthy but also allows them to adapt to challenges and achieve even more. 

Talk to us about how to help your leaders create high-trust environments that support their sense of psychological safety here.

‍

‍