Psychological safety and feedback in the team

In many teams, mistakes and concerns are only voiced when it is too late – because nobody wants to be the first. Psychological safety describes the opposite: a team in which you can ask questions, admit mistakes and disagree without fearing disadvantages. The term goes back to the researcher Amy Edmondson. This guide shows how to encourage it in everyday work; it runs all year.

Where does the measure start?

With the managers and with fixed habits in the team. Managers shape whether openness pays off: how they react to bad news, whether they ask follow-up questions, whether they name their own mistakes. A half-day workshop makes this conscious and practises it. In the team, short, regular retrospectives help: what went well, what did not, what do we change?

How do you measure progress?

With a short anonymous survey before the start and then twice a year: how safe do you feel raising mistakes or concerns in your team? Only show results for groups above a minimum size so that nobody can be identified.

What does it take?

Time for a workshop and for the retrospectives in the team. You will find moderators for the workshop in the marketplace. Feedback goes in both directions: managers ask their team for feedback themselves.