Mike Michalowicz discusses what psychological safety actually means for teams and how leaders can create it. The conversation clarifies the concept beyond general agreement that it matters, offering concrete strategies so team members feel safe speaking up without fear.
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.
