Psychological Safety

The original presentation that defined psychological safety.

This Ted Talk is the seminal work on Psychological Safety that introduced the world to the concept. Amy Edmondson is the original researcher that coined the term, and that while working with the Google research team identified its importance. In this insightful talk, the presenter explains its foundations, the necessity to support it, and outlines the three things you can do to build a psychologically safe workplace.

Who is on a team matters less than how team members interact and structure their work.

Psychological Safety is the feeling that it is safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other, and it is essential for effective teams. Google found through extensive research of over 180 teams that who is on a team matters less than how they interact. Marc Vollebregt expands on this subject by integrating it with openness and trust, and the concept of personal, professional, and private emotional spaces.

Psychological safety comes in three interrelated varieties.

Psychological Safety has been identified as the key element common in all productive teams. Leaders therefore seek to instill it in their workforce, but Chris Weller suggests that it’s critical to start by understanding what they want employees to feel safe to do. Chris outlines three different kinds of safety - around belonging, speaking up, or taking risks - each which can be leveraged for multiple end goals, and require a different set of capabilities.