Why Is Psychological Safety Important To An Organisation

Psychological safety in an organisation matters for a reason that has little to do with how any individual feels. It determines the quality of the information reaching the people making decisions.

At an organisational level three things follow. Reporting rates rise, which looks like more incidents but is usually the same number of incidents becoming visible for the first time. Decisions improve, because dissent arrives before commitment rather than after failure. And retention improves in the teams where it is strongest, which is measurable against the ones where it is not.

There is also a governance dimension. If your psychosocial risk controls rely on workers raising concerns, and your culture discourages raising concerns, then the control does not work and the risk is not being managed. A board or executive relying on a low complaint count as evidence of a healthy culture may be reading silence as safety.

Safe Work Australia publishes guidance on managing psychosocial hazards. This is general information rather than legal advice.

See Sentrient’s psychological safety course for managers and workplace compliance system.