Psychological Safety At Work

Psychological safety at work is harder to build than in most other settings, for a reason worth naming. At work, the people you would have to contradict usually have influence over your pay, your hours and your next role. Speaking up costs more here than it does anywhere else.

That power difference changes the maths for the person deciding whether to say something. They are not weighing whether they are right. They are weighing whether being right is worth the consequence, and in most workplaces nobody has told them what the consequence is.

Which means the answer is not encouragement. It is making the consequence visible and predictable. Show what happened the last time someone raised something awkward. Have leaders name their own mistakes first. Respond to the small concerns quickly, because that is the evidence people use to predict what happens with the big ones.

Safe Work Australia covers the related duty to manage psychosocial hazards. This is general information rather than legal advice.

See Sentrient’s psychological safety training course and course for managers.