What people get wrong about psychological safety (June 2025)

Summary

Psychological safety, which means having an environment where people feel safe to speak up, was once an obscure term in psychology and management research. Today the concept is downright popular. Countless managers, consultants, and training companies have worked hard to create psychologically safe workplaces, and thousands of articles have been devoted to the topic.

Amy C. Edmondson and Michaela J. Kerrissey describe six misconceptions about psychological safety, explaining why each gets in the way and how to counter it, and then offer a blueprint for building the kind of strong, learning-oriented work environment that is crucial for success in an uncertain world.

Content

1. Psychological safety means being nice. ‘Psychological safety is entirely consistent with kindness, but let’s distinguish between being nice and being kind. Nice is the easy way out of a difficult conversation. Kind is being respectful, caring, and honest.’
2. Psychological safety means getting your way. ‘Leaders don’t need to agree with everyone’s input.’
3. Psychological safety means job security. ‘But psychological safety doesn’t mean freedom from layoffs. It’s freedom to be constructively candid.’
4. Psychological safety requires a trade-off with performance. ‘Psychological safety and accountability are distinct dimensions. To decide which is more important is to impose a false dichotomy. When both are low, performance and morale clearly suffer. And yes, it is possible to have high levels of psychological safety and low performance standards, though that is certainly not a recipe for excellence. In any uncertain environment, superb performance requires a commitment to both high standards and psychological safety.’
5. Psychological safety is a policy. ‘Psychological safety, rather than being created by a policy, is built in a group, interaction by interaction. It takes intention and effort to create a climate of candor.’
6. Psychological safety requires a top-down approach. ‘Yes, it’s both powerful and helpful when senior executives in a company strike a sincere tone of humility and curiosity, conveying that they understand their dependence on others’ input. But it’s possible to create a motivated, psychologically safe, high-performing team anywhere. Start by focusing on your own team.’