What Is Psychological Safety in the Workplace?
Psychological safety is often discussed as part of equity, diversity and inclusion work. Some describe psychological safety as a need for people to feel able to contribute, ask questions and raise concerns if they are going to participate fully in the workplace. Others may consider it to be an environment, where a person is able to challenge, ask questions or contribute without fear.
These ideas can form part of the conversation, but they do not always recognise some of the more fundamental considerations around power, identity and risk.
In a psychologically safe environment, a person can contribute, ask questions, disagree, acknowledge mistakes, raise concerns and challenge harmful behaviour without fear of humiliation, exclusion or unfair consequences.
That does not mean everybody has to agree, but it does mean that disagreement, challenge and uncertainty can be welcomed and handled with dignity, care and accountability.
What does psychological safety look like in practice?
Imagine that a new colleague asks a question or challenges something raised in a meeting.
After they speak, they are met with eye rolling, huffing and puffing, shared glances or other non-verbal communication. Nobody explicitly tells them to be quiet, but the response communicates something important. It tells them who is allowed to speak, when it is acceptable to contribute and what it is acceptable to say.
They may then be pulled aside or called into a meeting and told:
“You know you shouldn’t have said that in the meeting yesterday.”
The consequence of speaking up has become othering in the meeting and a telling-off afterwards.
They may choose silence in the future to avoid further exclusion. If accessible and trusted routes for communication are not available, silence can become the safest option.
Psychological safety therefore cannot be measured only by whether people have been invited to speak, we also need to consider what happens when they do.
Psychological safety requires us to understand power
Psychological safety requires an ongoing awareness of power, identity and people’s different levels of risk.
Within a hierarchical structure, those with the highest levels of responsibility have the most organisational power. A chief executive or executive director may not always feel powerful, but their role gives them authority, influence and access that other people may not have.
Power also comes from:
length of service
familiarity with an organisation
relationships with senior colleagues
access to decision-makers
professional reputation or celebrity
specialist knowledge
being the only person able to carry out a particular role
belonging to a well-represented or dominant group
Someone who knows that they are essential to the running of an organisation may begin to see themselves as irreplaceable. If this is accompanied by poor behaviour, such as speaking to colleagues in an unacceptable way, bullying someone or repeatedly ignoring them, the organisation’s response becomes extremely important.
Sometimes, policies are not applied to powerful or “indispensable” people in the same way that they are applied to everyone else. In these circumstances, the person may come to be seen as untouchable.
People may feel unable to challenge their behaviour. They may also conclude that they are less valued by the organisation, and that their experiences matter less than the powerful person’s position.
Identity affects people’s experience of psychological safety
Identity and protected characteristics also play a part in psychological safety, particularly for people whose identities, experiences or positions give them less organisational power.
People who experience racism, ableism, classism or other forms of exclusion may arrive in a workplace with previous experiences of being dismissed, stereotyped or disadvantaged. Their assessment of risk is therefore based not only on what an organisation says, but also on what they have experienced before and what they observe around them now.
Someone may be in a minority within their team or organisation and feel less powerful because they are isolated. In this context, power can lie in numbers and representation.
People with less organisational power may not feel able to:
participate fully
express uncertainty
challenge a decision
identify bias or exclusion
acknowledge a mistake
question established practice
raise concerns about harmful behaviour
They may reasonably worry that they will be dismissed, disadvantaged or expected to carry the risk alone.
Lived experience is valuable expertise
Organisations employ people because of their skills, qualifications and professional experience. However, people can also offer valuable insight connected to their identities and lived experiences.
For example, a colleague might identify that a piece of communications or marketing reinforces a racial stereotype because they have experienced racism. Someone might recognise challenges for different family structures because of their own family background. Another person may see that a new policy could negatively affect somebody going through IVF or perimenopause.
That contribution can help an organisation identify risks, understand its audiences and make better decisions.
However, people should not be expected to repeatedly educate an organisation or disclose personal information. Sharing lived experience must be a choice, and the individual should not be required to carry responsibility for solving the problem they have identified.
In a psychologically safe environment, someone can contribute from both their professional position and their lived experience. Crucially, they can do so safely.
A psychologically safe response might be:
“Thank you for raising that. We missed it.”
An unsafe response might involve eye rolling, defensiveness or a focus on the embarrassment of the person who overlooked the issue.
The question is whether the organisation treats the contribution as useful information or as a personal criticism that needs to be resisted.
Psychological safety does not mean avoiding discomfort
Psychological safety is sometimes misunderstood as an environment in which nobody feels challenged or uncomfortable. That is not the case.
It is not the same as avoiding disagreement. It does not mean that every idea will be accepted, or that people will never experience the pressure of a deadline or the everyday peaks and troughs of work.
Psychological safety means working through challenge with curiosity, dignity, care, accountability and a commitment to learning and change.
People can disagree while treating one another with respect. Leaders can make difficult decisions while being transparent about how those decisions were reached. Colleagues can receive feedback without being humiliated, and people can identify harm without becoming responsible for managing everybody else’s discomfort.
How can organisations strengthen psychological safety?
The right approach will look different in different settings, but organisations can begin by considering several important areas.
Recognise power dynamics
Identify where formal and informal power sits. Consider hierarchy, relationships, specialist knowledge, representation and access to decision-makers.
Set clear expectations
Be explicit about acceptable behaviour and make sure those expectations apply consistently to colleagues, leaders, trustees, freelancers, partners and other stakeholders. Policies should apply equally to everyone and power should not be a consideration in whether a policy is followed.
Create accessible routes for speaking up
Not everybody will feel able to raise a concern in a meeting or with their direct manager. Provide different routes and explain clearly how each one works. Having a range of ways for people to contribute ideas before, during or after meetings for example, is also advisable.
Respond supportively and with curiosity
The first response matters. Listen, avoid defensiveness and be honest about what will happen next. Be curious about your own thoughts and feelings. Be curious about what you’re hearing, seeing or experiencing.
Take meaningful action
If people repeatedly share concerns but see no change, they may stop speaking. Communicate the action taken wherever it is appropriate and possible to do so.
Avoid placing the burden on marginalised colleagues
Do not expect people who experience exclusion to educate the organisation, provide evidence of every aspect of harm or fix the issue themselves.
Review what happens in practice
Look beyond policies and stated values. Explore how people experience meetings, decisions, challenge, feedback, complaints and accountability.
Questions for leaders and organisations
Psychological safety is not something that can be established through a single statement, workshop or policy. It requires ongoing attention and a willingness to examine how power operates in everyday organisational life.
You may want to reflect on the following questions:
Who is most able to speak, challenge and influence decisions in our organisation?
Who carries the greatest risk when raising a concern?
What usually happens when someone identifies a mistake or challenges established practice?
Are policies applied consistently, including when the person involved is senior, influential or difficult to replace?
Do people have accessible and trusted ways to raise concerns?
How do we respond when lived experience highlights something we have missed?
What evidence do we have that people feel safe to contribute, disagree and speak up?
Where might silence be mistaken for agreement?
Developing psychological safety in your organisation
Creating a psychologically safe and inclusive workplace requires more than encouraging people to contribute. It involves understanding power, examining culture, strengthening accountability and making sure that speaking up leads to an appropriate response.
Depending on where you are in your work, support could include:
Consultancy: exploring organisational culture, policies, power dynamics and barriers to inclusion, then developing practical strategies and action plans.
Training: helping leaders, boards and teams understand psychological safety and develop the confidence to respond to challenge, disagreement and concerns more effectively.
Ongoing learning: using the Spotlight Essentials subscription library to access learning content, videos (including one on psychological safety), practical resources, reflective prompts and tools that can support continued EDI work. The subscription includes introductory topics such as psychological safety, alongside resources intended to help turn learning into practical action.