Telling your team "it's safe to speak up" isn't enough to create the kind of high-performing teamwork that you're looking for. In this episode, Janet Williams, founder of Progressive Discoveries and a 25-year veteran of complex, high-stakes organizations, joins me to unpack what psychological safety in an organization really is.

Here's what we dig into:

• Why silence is a signal, not a personality trait. When people stop talking, leaders lose access to their team's best thinking, and often don't even know it's happening.
• Trust is the copilot. Janet unpacks Stephen Covey's emotional bank account concept and explains why safety can't exist without consistent, daily deposits of trust.
• Timothy Clark's Four Stages of Psychological Safety- inclusion, learner, contributor, and challenger safety. We also chat about why Janet believes learner safety is the most critical for today's fast-changing organizations.
• The problem with putting people on the spot in meetings. A simple fix: share your agenda questions in advance so people can come prepared and contribute thoughtfully.
• Why assessment beats assumption. If you want to know where your team actually stands, a third-party instrument will get you honest answers that a direct conversation won't.

Psychological safety in the workplace isn't soft. It's what makes everything else work.

Resources mentioned:

1. Progressive Discoveries Website
2. Janet Williams' LinkedIn

Visit ClaireLaughlin.com and connect with me @Claire Laughlin Consulting on Instagram and LinkedIn.Thanks for listening!

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