How familiar are people with the concept of psychological safety?

Psychological Safety Research Pulse

Last week, we asked “Typically, how familiar are people in your workplace with the concept of psychological safety?”. 

121 people responded, and the distribution across the whole sample looked like this. The most common responses were somewhere in the middle, with a slight lean towards more familiar (scores of 3 and 4). The distribution looks relatively “normal”, which is to be expected. What will be interesting will be to run this again in a year or so, and see if it’s changed.

Most people have heard of psychological safety, but few feel like experts

Familiarity with psychological safety in organisations (% responses). 

Which industries are most familiar with psychological safety?

We also asked respondents about their field of work. When we extrapolate that and remove any where the number of respondents is below 3, the below pattern emerges. 

The responses for consulting, healthcare, finance, and technology suggest that people in those sectors are somewhat familiar with psychological safety, whilst it’s slightly less well-known in education and government. 

What does this mean for us?

Broadly, people in the workplace aren’t totally in the dark, but there’s plenty of room to improve. Most people are aware of the term “psychological safety,” a handful really understand it deeply, and a solid chunk are yet to discover it. It’s important we don’t forget that; in our wonderful psychological safety community ‘bubble’ it’s easy to assume that everyone knows what we’re talking about!

Next, we’re asking about job security, organisational change and psychological safety. This is going to be really interesting!

Respond here, let us know what you think, and be in with a chance of winning some stickers plus a complete Psychological Safety Action Pack Bundle (total value £50).