Ensuring Psychological Safety in Teams

In this episode, we discuss the importance of psychological safety. Psychological safety allows team members to take risks, share ideas, make mistakes, and challenge each other without fear of judgment or negative consequences.  Teams without this safety often have one dominant voice, avoid disagreements, and lack feedback.  Leaders can foster psychological safety by protecting their teams, modeling openness, encouraging honest feedback, and focusing on problems, not people.  Small ways to shift language and culture include responses such as "Yes, and" vs. "Yes, but".  The episode explores how psychological safety must be continuously cultivated—teams may not notice when it's present but will certainly feel its absence.  It's important to create positive team norms, such as starting meetings with gratitude.  High-performing teams depend on this positive environment to innovate, grow, and succeed.