Mike Michalowicz explains how leaders build psychological safety by modeling vulnerability and introducing low-stakes risks without punishment. When team members see their flaws and know mistakes won't be penalized, they speak up more freely.
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'm not sure 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 fuck is going on here? It's over a slow reveal. It's the exchange of small risks. So you have to put the first risk out there and just let it sit. Then when they take the first risk, uh, there can be no negative consequence.
