Psych Safety
@psychsafety.bsky.social
Building psychologically safe workplaces so teams can thrive. At Psychsafety.com, we blend research-backed evidence with hands-on practice to foster psychological safety, performance and outcomes. 🚀
Psychological safety ≠ psychosocial safety.
One is about interpersonal risk-taking, the other is about protection from harm.
Confusing them creates dangerous blind spots.
psychsafety.com/psychosocial...
One is about interpersonal risk-taking, the other is about protection from harm.
Confusing them creates dangerous blind spots.
psychsafety.com/psychosocial...
Psychosocial Safety vs Psychological Safety
Psychological Safety vs Psychosocial Safety You’ve probably heard of psychological safety, and you may also have heard of “psychosocial safety”. In this piece, we’re exploring what psychosocial safety...
psychsafety.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Psychological safety ≠ psychosocial safety.
One is about interpersonal risk-taking, the other is about protection from harm.
Confusing them creates dangerous blind spots.
psychsafety.com/psychosocial...
One is about interpersonal risk-taking, the other is about protection from harm.
Confusing them creates dangerous blind spots.
psychsafety.com/psychosocial...
“As information traverses an organisational hierarchy, it gets diluted and distorted.”
👉 Read the full piece on vertical and horizontal psychological safety: psychsafety.com/the-watermel...
👉 Read the full piece on vertical and horizontal psychological safety: psychsafety.com/the-watermel...
The Watermelon Effect and "Greenwashing"
Vertical and horizontal psychological safety Psychological safety means feeling safe (note: not necessarily comfortable) to take interpersonal risks. To foster it, we need to consider the dynamics of ...
psychsafety.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:14 AM
“As information traverses an organisational hierarchy, it gets diluted and distorted.”
👉 Read the full piece on vertical and horizontal psychological safety: psychsafety.com/the-watermel...
👉 Read the full piece on vertical and horizontal psychological safety: psychsafety.com/the-watermel...
“When systems don’t change, the call for individual resilience becomes a kind of gaslighting.”
psychsafety.com/individual-r...
psychsafety.com/individual-r...
Individual Resilience
Individual Resilience, or “Grit” You won’t find many articles on psychsafety.com about individual resilience. Organisational resilience, certainly, but rarely the individual kind. We tend not to find ...
psychsafety.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:06 PM
“When systems don’t change, the call for individual resilience becomes a kind of gaslighting.”
psychsafety.com/individual-r...
psychsafety.com/individual-r...
“If my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a bicycle.”
Counterfactuals: tidy, satisfying, and entirely imaginary.
We don’t learn from the world-that-didn’t-happen.
#HumanFactors #HOP #ComplexSystems
psychsafety.com/counterfactu...
Counterfactuals: tidy, satisfying, and entirely imaginary.
We don’t learn from the world-that-didn’t-happen.
#HumanFactors #HOP #ComplexSystems
psychsafety.com/counterfactu...
Counterfactuals
Counterfactuals If, like me, you grew up during the Friends era, you might remember the scene where Ross is upset because he has to tell Rachel that Emily insists they can’t be friends. Ross: “I don’t...
psychsafety.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:36 AM
“If my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a bicycle.”
Counterfactuals: tidy, satisfying, and entirely imaginary.
We don’t learn from the world-that-didn’t-happen.
#HumanFactors #HOP #ComplexSystems
psychsafety.com/counterfactu...
Counterfactuals: tidy, satisfying, and entirely imaginary.
We don’t learn from the world-that-didn’t-happen.
#HumanFactors #HOP #ComplexSystems
psychsafety.com/counterfactu...
“Space, trust and curiosity can do far more than proving cleverness ever will.”
— Jade Garratt
Beautiful piece on how coaching builds psychological safety through humility, listening, and letting go of control.
#PsychSafety #Coaching #Leadership
psychsafety.com/coaching-and...
— Jade Garratt
Beautiful piece on how coaching builds psychological safety through humility, listening, and letting go of control.
#PsychSafety #Coaching #Leadership
psychsafety.com/coaching-and...
Coaching and Psychological Safety: listening, trust and letting go of control
Coaching and Psychological Safety: listening, trust and letting go of control By Jade Garratt When I first trained as a coach, I realised there were two things I wasn’t very good at: I meant well, bu...
psychsafety.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:43 AM
“Space, trust and curiosity can do far more than proving cleverness ever will.”
— Jade Garratt
Beautiful piece on how coaching builds psychological safety through humility, listening, and letting go of control.
#PsychSafety #Coaching #Leadership
psychsafety.com/coaching-and...
— Jade Garratt
Beautiful piece on how coaching builds psychological safety through humility, listening, and letting go of control.
#PsychSafety #Coaching #Leadership
psychsafety.com/coaching-and...
Reposted by Psych Safety
but in thinking and researching this question, i came across this article which i think presents the problems around measuring social outcomes very well
psychsafety.com/goodharts-la...
psychsafety.com/goodharts-la...
Goodhart’s Law, Campbell’s Law, and the Cobra Effect.
Goodhart’s Law, Campbell’s Law, and the Cobra Effect. We’ve mentioned Goodhart’s Law a few times in previous newsletters about measuring psychological safety, alongside its siblings, Campbell’s Law an...
psychsafety.com
October 11, 2025 at 1:02 AM
but in thinking and researching this question, i came across this article which i think presents the problems around measuring social outcomes very well
psychsafety.com/goodharts-la...
psychsafety.com/goodharts-la...
We're exploring socioeconomic background and age in relation to interpersonal risk appetite in the workplace.
There are only 4 questions, and you can remain anonymous. Respond at the link in the comments, and you can provide your own qualitative insights too!
psychsafety.com/the-psycholo...
There are only 4 questions, and you can remain anonymous. Respond at the link in the comments, and you can provide your own qualitative insights too!
psychsafety.com/the-psycholo...
The Psychological Safety Research Pulse
The Psychological Safety Research Pulse Psychological Safety Research Pulse Our global community of over 11,000 people across a range of industries, cultures and fields regularly contribute to the Psy...
psychsafety.com
October 13, 2025 at 3:08 PM
We're exploring socioeconomic background and age in relation to interpersonal risk appetite in the workplace.
There are only 4 questions, and you can remain anonymous. Respond at the link in the comments, and you can provide your own qualitative insights too!
psychsafety.com/the-psycholo...
There are only 4 questions, and you can remain anonymous. Respond at the link in the comments, and you can provide your own qualitative insights too!
psychsafety.com/the-psycholo...
Organisations are ecosystems.
✨ Emergence
🌾 Substrate
🌳 Succession
🪲 Indicator species
🌊 Ecotones
Five ecological ideas that can transform how we think about change: psychsafety.com/five-ecologi...
✨ Emergence
🌾 Substrate
🌳 Succession
🪲 Indicator species
🌊 Ecotones
Five ecological ideas that can transform how we think about change: psychsafety.com/five-ecologi...
Five Ecological Concepts for Working in Organisational Change
Emergence, substrate, succession, indicator species & ecotones. I started my career in ecology, as an experimentalist working in a research station’s wonderfully named “Weed Science” department – a ti...
psychsafety.com
October 10, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Organisations are ecosystems.
✨ Emergence
🌾 Substrate
🌳 Succession
🪲 Indicator species
🌊 Ecotones
Five ecological ideas that can transform how we think about change: psychsafety.com/five-ecologi...
✨ Emergence
🌾 Substrate
🌳 Succession
🪲 Indicator species
🌊 Ecotones
Five ecological ideas that can transform how we think about change: psychsafety.com/five-ecologi...
Teachers work at the sharp end.
Leaders & policymakers at the blunt end.
The danger is the gap between them.
✏️ psychsafety.com/the-sharp-en...
Leaders & policymakers at the blunt end.
The danger is the gap between them.
✏️ psychsafety.com/the-sharp-en...
Psychological Safety: Workplace Training, Online Workshops and Consultancy
Our team of experts around the world will help you make psychological safety real. We are psychological safety. Training Online Workshops Resources Organisational Safety and Performance Psychological ...
psychsafety.com
October 3, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Teachers work at the sharp end.
Leaders & policymakers at the blunt end.
The danger is the gap between them.
✏️ psychsafety.com/the-sharp-en...
Leaders & policymakers at the blunt end.
The danger is the gap between them.
✏️ psychsafety.com/the-sharp-en...
Disclosure costs more to some than others.
Marginalised colleagues often pay the highest price for “team-bonding” vulnerability rituals.
psychsafety.com/forced-vulne...
Marginalised colleagues often pay the highest price for “team-bonding” vulnerability rituals.
psychsafety.com/forced-vulne...
Forced Vulnerability
Forced Vulnerability One of the most persistent patterns in organisational change and dynamics is the search for a shortcut: the belief that if we can just find the right lever to pull, the right acti...
psychsafety.com
September 26, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Disclosure costs more to some than others.
Marginalised colleagues often pay the highest price for “team-bonding” vulnerability rituals.
psychsafety.com/forced-vulne...
Marginalised colleagues often pay the highest price for “team-bonding” vulnerability rituals.
psychsafety.com/forced-vulne...
“Our collective task ahead is to keep psychological safety porous and evolving, to resist its commodification, and to build organisations where everyone can be heard.”
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Reflections - Part Four: A Rights-Based Approach
In part one we explored the benefits and risks in naming psychological safety. In part two, we explored power and diversity. In part three we dived into dissent, non-determinism, and the seductive dan...
psychsafety.com
September 19, 2025 at 9:28 AM
“Our collective task ahead is to keep psychological safety porous and evolving, to resist its commodification, and to build organisations where everyone can be heard.”
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
This week is the third instalment in our 4-part #psychologicalsafety series, "Reflections", and explores deviance and dissent, non-determinism and non-linearity, and resisting KPIs, metrics and targets.
Read it here: psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Read it here: psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Reflections - Part Three
Part 3: The Safety to Dissent In part one we discussed the power and danger in naming psychological safety. In part two, we explored power and diversity. This week we’re continuing our series of refle...
psychsafety.com
September 12, 2025 at 9:08 AM
This week is the third instalment in our 4-part #psychologicalsafety series, "Reflections", and explores deviance and dissent, non-determinism and non-linearity, and resisting KPIs, metrics and targets.
Read it here: psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Read it here: psychsafety.com/reflections-...
🚀 Launch! The Psychological Safety Trainer Toolkit is here.
11 videos, slide deck, templates + resources — everything you need to run powerful psych safety sessions.
10% off this September with code LAUNCH10 🎉
👉 psychsafety.com/psychologica...
11 videos, slide deck, templates + resources — everything you need to run powerful psych safety sessions.
10% off this September with code LAUNCH10 🎉
👉 psychsafety.com/psychologica...
Psychological Safety Trainer Toolkit
The Psychological Safety Trainer Toolkit For consultants, trainers and facilitators who want to deliver high impact psychological safety workshops and training This is the only complete guide to deliv...
psychsafety.com
September 5, 2025 at 1:26 PM
🚀 Launch! The Psychological Safety Trainer Toolkit is here.
11 videos, slide deck, templates + resources — everything you need to run powerful psych safety sessions.
10% off this September with code LAUNCH10 🎉
👉 psychsafety.com/psychologica...
11 videos, slide deck, templates + resources — everything you need to run powerful psych safety sessions.
10% off this September with code LAUNCH10 🎉
👉 psychsafety.com/psychologica...
Talk time ≠ safety.
Eye contact ≠ trust.
Stammering ≠ fear.
If we want psychological safety, we need to fix systems, not people.
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Eye contact ≠ trust.
Stammering ≠ fear.
If we want psychological safety, we need to fix systems, not people.
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Reflections - Part Two
Part 2: Different people, different safety Continuing our reflections on the last five years. In part one, we explored the name psychological safety itself, and here in part two, we get into diversity...
psychsafety.com
September 5, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Talk time ≠ safety.
Eye contact ≠ trust.
Stammering ≠ fear.
If we want psychological safety, we need to fix systems, not people.
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Eye contact ≠ trust.
Stammering ≠ fear.
If we want psychological safety, we need to fix systems, not people.
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
The next five years should be less about awareness and more about depth.
Psychological safety must stay porous, inclusive, and evolving – or it risks becoming just another management fad.
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Psychological safety must stay porous, inclusive, and evolving – or it risks becoming just another management fad.
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Reflections on Psychological Safety: Five Years of Learning
Part 1: The Power and Peril of Naming Over the past five years of our work in psychological safety, it has transformed from a little-known term, understood and explicitly practised by only a small gro...
psychsafety.com
August 29, 2025 at 10:54 AM
The next five years should be less about awareness and more about depth.
Psychological safety must stay porous, inclusive, and evolving – or it risks becoming just another management fad.
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
Psychological safety must stay porous, inclusive, and evolving – or it risks becoming just another management fad.
psychsafety.com/reflections-...
“Look at me while I’m talking to you.”
Psychological safety isn’t built with “hacks.” Eye contact may help some people feel safe — for others, it feels like surveillance, dominance, or a demand to mask. One-size-fits-all advice risks harm.
psychsafety.com/not-feeling-...
Psychological safety isn’t built with “hacks.” Eye contact may help some people feel safe — for others, it feels like surveillance, dominance, or a demand to mask. One-size-fits-all advice risks harm.
psychsafety.com/not-feeling-...
Psychological Safety: Workplace Training, Online Workshops and Consultancy
Our team of experts around the world will help you make psychological safety real. We are psychological safety. Training Online Workshops Resources Organisational Safety and Performance Psychological ...
psychsafety.com
August 22, 2025 at 9:09 AM
“Look at me while I’m talking to you.”
Psychological safety isn’t built with “hacks.” Eye contact may help some people feel safe — for others, it feels like surveillance, dominance, or a demand to mask. One-size-fits-all advice risks harm.
psychsafety.com/not-feeling-...
Psychological safety isn’t built with “hacks.” Eye contact may help some people feel safe — for others, it feels like surveillance, dominance, or a demand to mask. One-size-fits-all advice risks harm.
psychsafety.com/not-feeling-...
“That trade-off – cost and convenience over risk mitigation – speaks volumes about what the organisation truly valued – and it wasn’t safety.”
psychsafety.com/the-amagasak...
psychsafety.com/the-amagasak...
The Amagasaki Disaster
The Amagasaki Derailment In our workshops and training, we often use real-world stories as a way to explore the dynamics of both failure and success. Stories are a powerful tool to help us reflect on ...
psychsafety.com
August 8, 2025 at 1:18 PM
“That trade-off – cost and convenience over risk mitigation – speaks volumes about what the organisation truly valued – and it wasn’t safety.”
psychsafety.com/the-amagasak...
psychsafety.com/the-amagasak...
Reposted by Psych Safety
That reminds me of (modern, secular) attempts to create concrete systems to enable speaking up in safety-critical highly-hierarchical systems, eg:
#ParshaChat
psychsafety.com/pace-graded-...
#ParshaChat
psychsafety.com/pace-graded-...
PACE: Graded Assertiveness
Psychological safety is about creating a climate in which we feel able to take interpersonal risks in order to communicate our ideas, concerns and issues – and we want to be able to speak up in a way ...
psychsafety.com
August 2, 2025 at 8:00 PM
That reminds me of (modern, secular) attempts to create concrete systems to enable speaking up in safety-critical highly-hierarchical systems, eg:
#ParshaChat
psychsafety.com/pace-graded-...
#ParshaChat
psychsafety.com/pace-graded-...
Children's books about psychological safety.
The books in this collection beautifully illustrate what psychological safety can look and feel like for children, whether that’s embracing mistakes, finding the courage to speak up, or learning to navigate conflict.
psychsafety.com/psychologica...
The books in this collection beautifully illustrate what psychological safety can look and feel like for children, whether that’s embracing mistakes, finding the courage to speak up, or learning to navigate conflict.
psychsafety.com/psychologica...
Psychological Safety Books for Children
Psychological Safety Books for Children In 2020, we shared a collection of the best books about psychological safety. As new books were published (and there have been a lot of them about psychologica...
psychsafety.com
August 1, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Children's books about psychological safety.
The books in this collection beautifully illustrate what psychological safety can look and feel like for children, whether that’s embracing mistakes, finding the courage to speak up, or learning to navigate conflict.
psychsafety.com/psychologica...
The books in this collection beautifully illustrate what psychological safety can look and feel like for children, whether that’s embracing mistakes, finding the courage to speak up, or learning to navigate conflict.
psychsafety.com/psychologica...
Carl Rogers argued creativity can’t be forced—it must be invited through psychological safety: unconditional worth, no judgement, and true empathy. #PsychSafety #Creativity
psychsafety.com/psychologica...
psychsafety.com/psychologica...
July 25, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Carl Rogers argued creativity can’t be forced—it must be invited through psychological safety: unconditional worth, no judgement, and true empathy. #PsychSafety #Creativity
psychsafety.com/psychologica...
psychsafety.com/psychologica...
Reposted by Psych Safety
⏳Final week to sign up to the Green Party.
🗳️ Vote for Bold Leadership on August 1st.
🗳️ Vote for Bold Leadership on August 1st.
July 23, 2025 at 6:46 AM
⏳Final week to sign up to the Green Party.
🗳️ Vote for Bold Leadership on August 1st.
🗳️ Vote for Bold Leadership on August 1st.
Not everyone stays silent for the same reason. Are they Fear‑Averse, Competence‑Anxious, or Cynical‑Conformists? Diagnose your team members' archetypes and tailor your psychological‑safety strategy.
psychsafety.com/barriers-to-...
psychsafety.com/barriers-to-...
Barriers to Psychological Safety
Barriers to Psychological Safety There are many team-level, organisation-level and broader barriers to speaking up, including (most significantly) steep power gradients, cultural norms (organisational...
psychsafety.com
July 18, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Not everyone stays silent for the same reason. Are they Fear‑Averse, Competence‑Anxious, or Cynical‑Conformists? Diagnose your team members' archetypes and tailor your psychological‑safety strategy.
psychsafety.com/barriers-to-...
psychsafety.com/barriers-to-...
Claims of ‘too much psychological safety’ often ignore the cost: which voices are we suggesting should be quieter, and what might we be willing to miss as a result?
July 17, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Claims of ‘too much psychological safety’ often ignore the cost: which voices are we suggesting should be quieter, and what might we be willing to miss as a result?
As Dekker says, ‘When theory and practice clash, it is not the practice that is wrong.’ So when published papers don’t align with real-world experience, we must question the paper — not the people.
July 12, 2025 at 4:51 PM
As Dekker says, ‘When theory and practice clash, it is not the practice that is wrong.’ So when published papers don’t align with real-world experience, we must question the paper — not the people.
How you respond matters.
People will observe how we respond to others when someone admits a mistake, raises a concern, or takes some other interpersonal risk, and that influences how likely they are to take similar risks.
Read more: psychsafety.com/how-you-resp...
People will observe how we respond to others when someone admits a mistake, raises a concern, or takes some other interpersonal risk, and that influences how likely they are to take similar risks.
Read more: psychsafety.com/how-you-resp...
How you respond matters.
How you respond matters. “Everything you do is important to your organization. People are watching you. The people in your organization determine how to move forward after both successful work and how...
psychsafety.com
July 11, 2025 at 9:52 AM
How you respond matters.
People will observe how we respond to others when someone admits a mistake, raises a concern, or takes some other interpersonal risk, and that influences how likely they are to take similar risks.
Read more: psychsafety.com/how-you-resp...
People will observe how we respond to others when someone admits a mistake, raises a concern, or takes some other interpersonal risk, and that influences how likely they are to take similar risks.
Read more: psychsafety.com/how-you-resp...