Learning Teams
Learning Teams Often, when we’re trying to improve how work gets done, we start with principles. We agree what we believe in, or are working towards, at a high level, and then figure out how those ideas translate into day-to-day
psychological safety
ST.R.E.A.M: Status Rules Everything Around Me
ST.R.E.A.M: Status Rules Everything Around Me In the classic hip hop track C.R.E.A.M., the great Wu-Tang tell us “Cash Rules Everything Around Me”. Whilst it might sound like the song is glorifying money, it’s actually a commentary on how economic
Growth Mindset
Growth Mindset When American psychologist Carol Dweck published her book “Mindset” in 2006 it made waves in the education world and beyond. Drawing on her work developing mindset theory, it offered a shift in perspective: instead of assuming that someone’s
The Streetlight Effect
The Streetlight Effect Measuring the really important stuff is hard. How do we measure inclusion, or safety, or happiness? We can probably all agree that these things matter, but when it comes to measuring them, where do we start? In
The “Fist of Five”
The problem with the “Fist to Five” for psychological safety. Often, with good intent, we find facilitators and teams adopting a practice called “Fist of Five”, where, at the start of a meeting or workshop, participants are asked to hold
Psychological Bravery
The trope of “psychological bravery” crops up a lot. But what does it mean? Typically, “psychological bravery” is an attempt to reframe: instead of focusing on creating psychologically safe environments, we should simply encourage individuals to be braver. In other
Psych Safety Book List 2025
Psych Safety Book List 2025 You know we love a good book, and we love sharing them even more, and this year we’ve been treated to some brilliant recommendations from members of the Psych Safety community. Thank you for keeping our
Plan Continuation Bias
Plan Continuation Bias, or “Get-There-Itis” I got pretty sick this week. I was wiped out with a nasty bout of tonsillitis – high temperature, exhausted and felt awful. The doctor put me on strong antibiotics, painkillers, and told me, in
Whistleblowing and Psychological Safety
Whistleblowing and Psychological Safety: Not the Same Thing By Jade Garratt When we explain our work to people who’ve never heard of psychological safety, they sometimes say, “Oh, like whistleblowing?” It’s an understandable mix-up – both involve speaking up about things
How Childhood Socioeconomic Status Shapes Psychological Safety and Career Risk-Taking at Work
How comparatively well-off we feel as children affects our later appetite for interpersonal risk taking in the workplace. Authors: Tom Geraghty & Jade Garratt, Psychsafety.com In our work and experience with teams and organisations all over the world, we always suspected
Safety and the Myth of Self-Reliance
Safety and the Myth of Self-Reliance There are many myths that we Americans embrace, and the myth of triumphant self-reliance isin the top five. Let’s list our heroes: lone tycoons, solo cops, misunderstood dreamers, lone and desperateparents; each is resourceful,
The Watermelon Effect and “Greenwashing”
Vertical and horizontal psychological safety Psychological safety means feeling safe (note: not necessarily comfortable) to take interpersonal risks. To foster it, we need to consider the dynamics of both the transmission and reception of information – whether that’s an idea,
Individual Resilience
Individual Resilience, or “Grit” You won’t find many articles on psychsafety.com about individual resilience. Organisational resilience, certainly, but rarely the individual kind. We tend not to find it an especially useful, or often fair, way to frame things. This sometimes
Counterfactuals
Counterfactuals If, like me, you grew up during the Friends era, you might remember the scene where Ross is upset because he has to tell Rachel that Emily insists they can’t be friends. Ross: “I don’t want Rachel to hate
Coaching and Psychological Safety
Coaching and Psychological Safety: listening, trust and letting go of control By Jade Garratt When I first trained as a coach, I realised there were two things I wasn’t very good at: I meant well, but I was uncomfortable with
Five Ecological Concepts for Working in Organisational Change
Emergence, substrate, succession, indicator species & ecotones. I started my career in ecology, as an experimentalist working in a research station’s wonderfully named “Weed Science” department – a title that sounds more like a kooky 80s film than a scientific
The Sharp End & Blunt End of Education
Are you at the Sharp End or the Blunt End? Most people who’ve been to school (and many who haven’t!) have strong opinions about education. Understandably so – education speaks to how we raise our children, what we value as
Forced Vulnerability
Forced Vulnerability One of the most persistent patterns in organisational change and dynamics is the search for a shortcut: the belief that if we can just find the right lever to pull, the right activity or artefact, we can bypass
New Sticker Drop! “Zombies Are Scary”
Just in time for Halloween, we’ve created a special new sticker: “Zombies Are Scary, Speaking Up Shouldn’t Be” This is a special run just for Halloween, so grab yours now. They glow in the dark too!
Reflections – Part Four: A Rights-Based Approach
In part one we explored the benefits and risks in naming psychological safety. In part two, we explored power and diversity. In part three we dived into dissent, non-determinism, and the seductive danger of metrics. This week, in our fourth and final part of
Reflections – Part Three: The Safety to Dissent
Part 3: The Safety to Dissent In part one we discussed the power and danger in naming psychological safety. In part two, we explored power and diversity. This week we’re continuing our series of reflections with some of the things we’ve
Reflections – Part Two: Power and Difference
Part 2: Different people, different safety Continuing our reflections on the last five years. In part one, we explored the name psychological safety itself, and here in part two, we get into diversity, myths, the proliferation of bad advice, and
Reflections on Psychological Safety: Five Years of Learning
Part 1: The Power and Peril of Naming Over the past five years of our work in psychological safety, it has transformed from a little-known term, understood and explicitly practised by only a small group of researchers and practitioners, to
Not Feeling Seen: Eye Contact and Psychological Safety
Not Feeling Seen: Eye Contact and Psychological Safety There really is some bad advice and research around in respect to psychological safety, in particular how it relates to aspects of neurodiversity and culture. In this piece, we’re going to dive
Psychological Safety Isn’t Enough
Psychological Safety Is Necessary But Not Sufficient. We sometimes hear “But psychological safety isn’t enough!”, and well… Obviously. It’s rather like saying that having a fully functioning car isn’t enough to make a road trip – and of course it
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