How to Build Psychological Safety for Feedback

🔷 Career Corner Insight: Creating Psychological Safety in Teams 🔷 What makes a team truly high-performing isn’t just skill—it’s trust. And at the heart of trust lies psychological safety. It’s the foundation that allows people to ask hard questions, admit mistakes, propose bold ideas, and show up as their full selves—without fear of humiliation or punishment. In healthcare and technology especially, where innovation, precision, and collaboration intersect, the ability to speak up can be the difference between solving a challenge or staying silent and stuck. So how do leaders create psychological safety? It starts with intention: 🔸 Model vulnerability from the top. Leaders who say “I don’t know” or “I got that wrong” set the tone for openness. If you want candor from your team, show them it’s safe to be human. My mea culpa often begins with "Oops...." where it is framed appropriately based on the situation and takes full accountability for a result. The level of "Oops..." may vary, yet consistently is owned and sets up the team to share theirs too. 🔹 Reward curiosity—not just results. Encourage your team to ask questions, test ideas, and explore new approaches—even if they don’t lead to immediate wins. Innovation grows where risk-taking is respected. Incrementalism or "base hits" as I prefer to note, stack up quickly and can lead to a winning environment as it is the constant pursuit of improvement that makes an incredible impact. 🔸 Address breakdowns with empathy. When mistakes happen (and they will), shift the lens from blame to learning. Make it about process improvement, not personal fault. This builds trust and resilience. It also fosters camaraderie as people lean into one another for their expertise and are willing to share what they don't know as freely as what they do know, and it benefits everyone in terms of where there may be collective gaps and abundance to build upon. Creating psychological safety isn’t a one-time leadership tactic—it’s a culture you cultivate daily. And - it starts with you! Bonus insight: Google’s landmark Project Aristotle study found that the #1 predictor of high-performing teams wasn’t skill or experience—it was psychological safety: the ability to take risks and be vulnerable without fear of embarrassment or punishment. 💬 How are you building environments where your team feels safe to take risks and speak up?

If you’re tired of team exercises that feel forced, try the Start / Stop / Continue ritual that actually builds team bonding. Here’s how to do it: Step 1: Pick a topic Choose one specific area you want to improve. You can do this as a team (like marketing strategy, branding, or workflow) or even as a couple or family (like health habits or household routines). When my team did this for our marketing strategy, we asked: “What’s working? What’s not? What should we try next?” Step 2: Sticky it up Give everyone a stack of sticky notes. Each person writes down every task they do related to that topic (one per note). Then, color-code: • Different colors for different people (for transparency) • Or all one color if you want to keep feedback anonymous This part alone often surprises people. We realize how many invisible tasks we’re doing, and how much effort goes unnoticed. Step 3: Place the tasks Draw three columns on the board: 🟢 Start – New ideas or things worth trying 🔴 Stop – Tasks that drain time or add no real value 🟡 Continue – What’s working and worth doubling down on Then, together, sort each sticky. When we did this at Science of People, we learned: • We wanted to start experimenting with Medium and LinkedIn posts • We needed to stop wasting time on low-return platforms (sorry, X) • And we should continue doing more of what was driving real results (YouTube, email newsletters, and blog writing) If you disagree on something (like we did about Medium), place it in between columns as a trial. Set a test period. For example, “Let’s try this for 2 months and then review.” Step 4: Create a safe space This is a critical step. Start / Stop / Continue only works when feedback feels safe. You’re talking about the task, not the person. We even use different colored stickies to separate ideas from ownership. That way, no one feels attacked. When people feel psychologically safe, they share the truth, and that’s when real improvement happens. Step 5: Assign and act Insight without action is just decoration. So before you finish, assign ownership: • Who’s starting the new tasks? • Who’s stopping or phasing out the old ones? And for the “Continue” column, ask: “Can we make this even better?” A bonus: It works outside of work, too I even do this exercise with my husband once a year, for our health and habits. We’ve listed things like: • Start: Morning protein shakes, evening routines • Stop: Buying soda, eating out too often •Continue: Yoga and weekend soccer We walk away feeling more connected and intentional. The takeaway: When you pause to ask, “What should we start, stop, and continue?” you give yourself (and your team) permission to refocus energy where it truly matters.

Mary was hired for her voice… but the culture taught her silence. She was smart, experienced, deeply committed to the team’s success. But after a few team meetings where her ideas were ignored, one slack message from her manager that felt like a dismissal, and watching another teammate get publicly blamed for a mistake… she shut down. She still showed up. Still did her job. But she stopped challenging ideas. Stopped flagging concerns. Stopped contributing anything that felt too risky. And just like that, the team lost one of its most valuable minds. This is what happens when psychological safety is missing. People don’t speak up. They don’t ask for help. They don’t disagree when they should. They don’t say the thing that could have changed everything. Psychological safety isn’t about being nice. It’s about feeling safe enough to take interpersonal risks to raise your hand, challenge the group, admit a mistake, or try something new, without fear of humiliation or punishment. When it’s there: → Teams learn faster → Decisions get better → Engagement goes up → Accountability increases (yes — not decreases!) When it’s missing: → People play small → Teams avoid hard conversations → Mistakes get hidden → Growth slows I’ve worked with dozens of teams who thought performance would come from processes, dashboards, or incentives. But performance at scale starts with safety. 💡 How do you build psychological safety? 1/ Normalize and role model vulnerability. Leaders, start with you. Admit mistakes. Ask for feedback. Say “I don’t know” when you don’t. 2/ Encourage healthy dissent. Instead of “Any questions?” ask “What’s one thing you would challenge in this plan?” 3/ Respond to bad news with curiosity, not blame. If someone raises an issue, thank them. If someone flags a risk, reward them. Your response sets the tone. 4/ Close the loop. If someone makes a suggestion, even if it’s not feasible, acknowledge it. Silence kills initiative. 5/ Create safe spaces. Dedicated time in meetings for people to reflect, share concerns, or speak about what’s not working, without immediate judgment or debate. It’s not complicated. But it takes intention. And consistency. Because psychological safety is earned in the way we show up, every day. -- I’m Anne Caron, I help leaders build people-first, high-performance cultures as they scale. Follow me for more on People Strategy, Conscious Leadership & Organisational Design. #PeopleStrategy #PsychologicalSafety #LeadershipTips #WorkplaceCulture #TrustAndSafety

Last week I led a session on #PerformanceManagement for senior leaders. One of them reached out with the following important question about #PsychologicalSafety in the context of managing underperformance: "Psychological safety is an extremely difficult concept to pin down, especially in a setting where we have to strike a balance between supporting human beings under pressure, while at the same time being accountable for results. I would like to have more guidance on is how one manages the psychological safety element in a situation of underperformance - which often requires (at least partially) withdrawing that safety, to the discomfort of the staff member." Here is my advice to those of you wondering the same thing: In the context of managing underperformance, having psychological safety means feeling that you won't be punished or humiliated for making mistakes or for underperforming. That being said, having a conversation with a supervisor about your performance when you’re not meeting expectations is inherently stressful. It is psychologically difficult for people to focus on where they are coming up short; this undermines their sense of self as a competent person, particularly when they feel that they have been working diligently or when they have been negatively affected by situations beyond their control. While it may not be possible to make a staff member completely comfortable during feedback conversations about underperformance — and indeed, a total lack of discomfort with the status quo may not be optimal for motivating improvement — these conversations are much more likely to achieve their aim of helping the staff member perform at a higher level when the supervisor does the following:   ⋙ Provide Actionable Feedback ⋘ 👉 Give specific, timely, and constructive feedback on performance gaps, not just vague criticisms. 👉 Clearly outline expectations, metrics, and deadlines for improvement. Maintain an empathetic, development-focused tone even as you increase accountability. ⋙ Focus on Development, Not Just Evaluation ⋘ 👉 When addressing underperformance, emphasize how you can support the employee's growth and improvement. Make it clear the goal is to help the employee succeed. 👉 Collaboratively identify obstacles (e.g., by asking questions like, “What is most difficult about this for you?” and “What’s getting in the way?”) and craft a plan to overcome them through coaching, training, or other resources. 👉 Engage the staff member in articulating what help they feel they need and what path forward feels most motivating and productive. This helps to build employee ownership over their plan for improvement rather than thrusting it upon them.

If you avoid hard conversations, you’re bleeding trust. And I’ve seen it for years—not just in boardrooms, but in therapy rooms. As a psychotherapist, I sat across from high achievers unraveling under silence, tension, and unspoken stress from work. Most weren’t struggling with the work itself. They were struggling with cultures where honesty felt unsafe. Where truth had to be repackaged in such a way that one wasn't concerned about speaking with care, but more about being careful with their words because of fear. So I built a framework leaders could actually use in the moment to help lower the threat threshold when it came to feedback. The 3 A’s of Emotionally Intelligent Feedback: (Aware(ness) → Assess(ment) → Address/Action) 1. Aware(ness) Start with you. What’s your emotional state? Are you clear, or reactive? If you’re dysregulated, trust me, the conversation’s already off track. 2. Assess(ment) What’s the dynamic underneath this issue? Is this about performance—or fear, confusion, power, trust? Slow down enough to name it. We don’t need you projecting instead of protecting and progressing. 3. Address/Action Now address it productively.  Lead with curiosity. Choose words that create space, not shame. What’s your first sentence? “What’s feeling stuck right now?” beats “You missed the mark again.” High EQ requires a balance and understanding of self-awareness and social awareness. This isn’t about making feedback soft. It’s about making it safe enough to actually land well. What part of giving feedback challenges you most? Let’s talk about it—this is where authentic, healthy culture gets built. #emotionalIntelligence #leadership #psychologicalSafety #workculture ----- �� Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the most overhyped, underutilized, and misused skill. I partner with leaders and teams to do the deeper work that elevates their EQ to create psychological safety and agency. Because every day we’re peopling—and we can people better.

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐢-𝐅𝐢 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲. 🧠 Did you know your team is essentially operating on "Emotional Wi-Fi"? 📶 We tend to think of our minds as closed loops—private and contained. But neuroscience suggests we are actually open-loop systems, constantly regulating each other’s nervous systems through 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐬. These neurons fire not only when we perform an action, but when we observe someone else performing it. When you frown in a meeting, my brain "rehearses" frowning. When you radiate panic, my brain prepares for a threat. When you show calm curiosity, my brain feels safe to explore. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲: You cannot simply 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 people they are safe to fail or speak up. If your words say "I want your feedback," but your micro-expressions signal annoyance or stress, your team’s mirror neurons will detect the threat instantly. 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞. As a leader, you are the 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭 of the room. To build real safety, you have to hack the biology: 1. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 "𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞" 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤: Before you join that call, reset your expression. A genuine smile or a relaxed brow triggers a safety response in others before you even speak. 2. 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞: Ambiguity kills psychological safety. If you are stressed, say it: "𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘴." This prevents your team from mirroring undefined anxiety. 3. 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐕𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: When you admit a mistake, you don't look weak—you look human. This signals to your team's mirror neurons that the environment is safe enough for them to be human, too. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞: 𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤. 𝘉𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳. #PsychologicalSafety #Neuroscience #Leadership #TeamDynamics #EmotionalIntelligence #OurHappinessMatters #IgniteAction #TEAMJOY

Have you ever felt the need to bite your tongue at work, fearing that what you say could lead to punishment or humiliation? It’s a common scenario but one we need to change urgently for greater and healthier workplaces.  En español diríamos: te muerdes la lengua y te envenenas... de todo lo que tienes guardado y no has podido contar. #1:Understand What Psychological Safety Is Psychological safety, a concept introduced by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, is the belief that team members can take risks, express ideas and concerns, speak up with questions, and admit mistakes without fear of negative consequences. I became obsessed with it while working at Google and being a spokesperson about creating high performing teams. Remember, it’s not about being overly nice (I talked about toxic positivity last week) ; it’s about fostering authenticity and trust within the team. #2: Recognize Its Importance Psychological safety is crucial for sound decision-making, innovation, and operational efficiency. Why? Because when people feel safe, they engage more, share their creative ideas, and contribute to the team’s collective intelligence. Examples: - Imagine a team where members feel empowered to point out potential risks in a project. This openness can prevent costly errors and lead to better outcomes. - Think about a brainstorming session where no idea is too wild or far-fetched. This creates a breeding ground for groundbreaking innovations. #3: Implement Practical Steps to Foster Psychological Safety Creating a psychologically safe environment isn't a one-off task; it's an ongoing commitment. Some best practices I can recommend: - Encourage Open Communication: Make it clear that every voice matters. Regular feedback sessions and open-door policies can help. - Lead by Example: Show vulnerability as a leader. Admit your own mistakes and ask for feedback. It signals to your team that it’s okay to be human. This is the most difficult, I know. You might need your therapist to help you out. 😂 - Prioritize Employee Input: Actively seek and value your team’s input and suggestions. It demonstrates that their perspectives are essential for the company’s success. Now it’s your turn. Take these steps and start creating a safe space for your team to thrive. Let’s make it happen. What strategies have you used to foster psychological safety in your team? Share your experiences in the comments below! If you found this article helpful, don’t forget to like and share it with your network. #Leadership #TeamBuilding #PsychologicalSafety #WorkplaceCulture #Innovation

If you're not uncomfortable, you're not learning. In a recent Leadership Program I was running, we were exploring the concept of psychological safety, and at a surface level, this team felt they had it. However, as we delved deeper, a pattern emerged. While team members felt "safe" to share or ask for help, they often hesitated to challenge ideas—especially those from senior leaders. So many of us tell ourselves we're just being polite, when really we're probably not being brave. We create cultures where it feels safe to agree, but not necessarily to dissent. Here's what I learned about Psychological Safety 2.0: True safety isn't just about comfort—it's about courage. It’s about creating a space where: "I feel safe to challenge" is as natural as "I feel safe to share." "I can offer a contrary view" is as welcomed as "I can ask for help." "I am encouraged to push boundaries" becomes a team norm. In the Program, we introduced the concept of challenge networks—intentional groups designed not just to support but to sharpen. These are teams that: - Push each other's thinking - Question assumptions - Share candid feedback - Embrace productive conflict Because the truth is, teams that avoid disagreement aren't harmonious—they’re withholding. Let's start celebrating the courage to challenge as much as the courage to share. Normalising and making space for productive tension in meetings. Encouraging leaders to model Brene Brown's famous line: "Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind." The results? Leaders began reframing psychological safety as a platform for innovation. Teams shift from polite agreement to meaningful debate, unlocking new ideas and solutions. What’s your take? How do you foster a balance between comfort and courage in your leadership or team culture?

Psychological safety ≠ comfort I spend a lot of time thinking about the constant challenge of building a high performing and happy team. There's often a tension between different elements: → Safety to ask questions without creating a culture where every decision is endlessly up for debate → Being target driven without making people feel they can’t adapt or adjust expectations when needed → Creating a culture of fun and equality without losing accountability or allowing poor performance to slide → Building a meritocracy without creating unhealthy competition or sidelining collaboration → Fostering a culture of continuous feedback without people feeling demoralised or attacked This last bullet is where I think the crux of psychological safety lies. Some of the least psychologically safe working environments I've been in have seemed the most comfortable on the surface. Leaders avoided giving feedback, people carry on not knowing where they stand, and everyone stays “nice” to each other. But that "niceness" is a trap because underneath it there’s uncertainty, second-guessing, and unspoken tension. Giving feedback is an ongoing effort. It’s easy to leave it when someone is 80% of the way there in their role, and it feels unnecessary to pick up on that final 20%. It's also easy to avoid it when someone is only 20% of the way there as change feels impossible. But over time, that gap grows. You stop addressing small things. The culture drifts into one where feedback feels unusual or even threatening. Then, when it’s urgent, the conversation feels ten times heavier than it needs to. People become defensive, leaders become hesitant, and the cycle of avoidance deepens. True psychological safety isn’t about making everything feel pleasant all the time. It’s about creating an environment where the small things can be said *kindly* without fear, so the big things never come out of nowhere. Fostering psychologically safe environments is a constant juggling act, but giving feedback well is at the core. It's hard, but it's something all leaders Often, being honest is the kindest thing you can do for someone. #Leadership #Feedback #Culture