by Anne Grady, founder of Anne Grady Group and author of “EvolvAbility: Growing Forward When Life Goes Sideways” and “
It’s difficult to identify the one variable that determines team success. But that’s exactly what Google did with its massive teaming study, Project Aristotle. After poring through half a century of teaming literature and analyzing hundreds of teams, they discovered that the single most important factor wasn’t tenure, talent, or technical expertise — it was psychological safety, which has become one of the most talked-about yet most misunderstood concepts in leadership.
Before we can understand what it is, we first have to clarify what it’s not. Psychological safety is not:
- Being nice
- Avoiding conflict, sugarcoating feedback, or letting people behave like toddlers
- A free pass to be rude, inappropriate, or unchecked in the name of “authenticity”
Psychological safety, a term coined by Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson, is the belief that people feel safe to show up fully — warts, questions, mistakes, and all — without fear of embarrassment, punishment, or being shut down. And in Google’s Project Aristotle study, psychological safety emerged as the most essential factor in team effectiveness. Teams with high psychological safety experience:
- Lower stress
- Fewer errors
- More open communication
- Greater creativity
- Stronger trust
- Higher job satisfaction
In one analysis of high-trust vs. low-trust workplaces, employees at high-trust companies reported 74% less stress, 50% higher productivity, and significantly less burnout than those at low-trust companies. And Gallup studies consistently find that teams with higher trust and psychological safety tend to show higher engagement, better well-being, greater retention, and higher productivity.
It turns out that when people feel safe to make mistakes, they make fewer of them — because they’re not operating from a place of fear. The highest-performing teams spend meaningful time simply connecting, not just working — because you can’t have collaboration without connection.
Importance of Psychological Safety
It turns out that when you’re not afraid, your brain works better. You can:
- Solve problems faster
- Accelerate learning
- Collaborate more effectively
- Take smarter risks
- And yes — perform better
In one of Edmondson’s original studies, she discovered a surprising trend: The teams that reported the most medical errors were also the highest-performing. At first, it seemed counterintuitive — until she realized those teams weren’t making more mistakes. They were just more willing to talk about them.
Other teams were hiding or downplaying mistakes out of fear. But the high-performing teams had created psychological safety by sharing errors, learning from them, and course-correcting.
Safety doesn’t mean always getting it right — it means being safe enough to get it wrong and grow anyway.
As a leader, your job isn’t to keep everyone comfortable, but it is to create an environment where people feel seen, heard, and safe enough to speak up. You don’t have to walk on eggshells or shower others with compliments. But you can set a tone where people ask questions, admit mistakes, challenge the norm, and show up as themselves, without fear of judgment, blame, or career suicide.
This doesn’t happen by accident. It happens through deliberate leadership. Leaders who build trust create permission to change. When people feel secure, they are more likely to take risks, contribute ideas, and embrace new ways of working.
The following are some of the most effective, research-backed ways to build psychological safety, whether you manage a team or simply want to be someone others want to be around:
Be Curious
Andy Stanley once said, “Leaders who don’t listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say.”
If you act like you have all the answers, no one else will risk offering theirs. The best leaders aren’t the ones who always know what to do. They’re the ones who know how to ask better questions. To be a great leader, curiosity isn’t optional; it’s essential.
When you foster curiosity over criticism, you create a culture where learning is valued more than being right. You signal that questions are welcome, ideas are safe, and mistakes are part of the process, not something to be punished. Ask questions like:
- What am I missing?
- What would you do differently?
- Can you help me understand where you’re coming from?
These questions invite input, create ownership, and signal that ideas are welcome, not just tolerated.
That’s when real leadership happens — not when you have the loudest voice in the room, but when you make space for everyone else’s.
Be Vulnerable
If curiosity opens the door to psychological safety, then vulnerability walks through it first. Sure, you want leaders who project competence, confidence, and control. But what builds trust isn’t perfection — it’s authenticity.
When you admit you don’t know something, own a mistake, or say, “I’m struggling with this too,” you don’t lose credibility. You gain trust, relatability, and respect — because people don’t connect with being perfect; they connect with being human. Vulnerability sends a message: You belong here.
A senior executive I worked with struggled to get honest input from her team. People nodded in meetings, avoided conflict, and kept quiet when things weren’t working. Frustrated, she brought it up at a team retreat and did something unexpected.
She shared a story about a major decision she made that backfired. She described the fallout, her embarrassment, and how hard it was to rebuild trust.
Then she said, “I know I’ve made calls without your input. I want to do better. But I need your help to see what I might be missing.”
The room shifted. People started to open up. That single act of vulnerability cracked the shell — and trust began to grow.
She didn’t lower expectations. She lowered the emotional armor. And that’s when her team stepped up, not just with accountability, but with ownership. Leaders who express vulnerability and humility foster greater trust, engagement, and learning. Vulnerability isn’t weakness. It’s a sign of strength, trust, and self-awareness. It’s how psychological safety gets built — one honest moment at a time.
If you model curiosity, humility, and openness, your team will follow. And when they do? Ideas flow. People grow. And performance takes care of itself.
Psychological safety isn’t soft. It’s smart.
*excerpted from “EvolvAbility: Growing Forward When Life Goes Sideways” by Anne Grady
Anne Grady is a resilience and adaptability expert who helps people grow forward when life goes sideways. A bestselling author, speaker, and entrepreneur, Anne blends neuroscience, humor, and hard-won wisdom to teach practical skills for navigating change. Her new book, “EvolvAbility: Growing Forward When Life Goes Sideways,” offers a science-backed roadmap for thriving through disruption. Anne’s work has been featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company. Learn more at AnneGradyGroup.com.
