Mike Michalowicz explains how leaders build psychological safety by modeling vulnerability first. He describes it as an "over-slow" reveal where the leader takes small interpersonal risks, signaling to the team that speaking up won't bring punishment. This gradual approach creates a culture where people feel safe to express themselves.
In your mind, what are some of the keys to cultivating psychological safety within a team? Because I think everyone agrees that it's important, but I want to know if people agree, like what it is or how to address it.
Yeah. So it's roughly defined as the ability to express myself fully and completely without retribution or consequence. Negatively. Right. That's what psychological safety is. I've only found that you can execute through demonstrative experiences. It inevitably starts with a leader saying, here's me. It's showing the warts and the flaws, but it's also with balance. Like, you don't want to go so deep that people are like, what the F is going on here? It's over slow reveal. It's the exchange of small risks. So you have to put the first risk out there and just let it set. Then when they take the first risk, there can be no negative consequence.
