Psychological safety is the cornerstone of effective, innovative teams. Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, explains why psychological safety is one of the strongest predictors of team performance and learning. In this episode, Amy shares practical strategies for leaders to create safe, high-performing environments where teams can speak up, share ideas, and take thoughtful risks.

If your team avoids risk or only delivers "green updates," they may be performing but not innovating. Amy reveals how fostering psychological safety allows teams to take the interpersonal risks necessary to solve complex problems and drive results.

Psychological Safety Takes Off the Brakes

Amy explains that psychological safety is not about comfort or being "nice"—it's about enabling your team to lean in, take risks, and speak up. Think of it as taking the handbrake off: your team already has motivation and skills to perform, but psychological safety ensures they aren't holding themselves back.

Context Matters: Defining Team Performance

Team performance is not one-size-fits-all:

• R&D teams may take years to see the impact of their work.

• Customer service teams can measure performance weekly through client feedback.

• Internal teams serve other departments or "internal customers" and require context-specific metrics.

Psychological safety allows teams to consistently push toward success metrics, whatever the context.

Psychological Safety Is (and Isn't)

• It is: Permission to share work-relevant questions, concerns, dissenting views, and ideas without fear of personal repercussions.

• It is not: Lowering standards, allowing irrelevant off-topic comments, avoiding conflict, or guaranteeing all ideas will succeed.

High performance standards alongside high psychological safety are both necessary for learning, innovation, and real candour.

Dealing with Failure: The Red Is the Gem

Amy emphasises that not all failures are equal:

• Preventable failures: Avoidable mistakes requiring vigilance, training, and speaking up.

• Smart/Thoughtful failures: The undesired results of calculated risk-taking, experimentation, and innovation.

Leaders should create an environment where team members feel safe to share these "reds" and learn from them. Recognise intelligent failures as opportunities for growth, and encourage teams to run ideas by peers to minimise unnecessary risk.

Your Action Plan

• Audit your team: Are people holding back? Are only the "green" updates being shared?

• Establish psychological safety: Encourage candid, work-relevant communication.

• Align on performance: Clearly define success metrics for your team context.

• Combine safety with high standards: Challenge ideas while protecting people.

• Model self-awareness: Communicate with purpose, clarity, and empathy to maintain constructive engagement.

ABOUT AMY EDMONDSON:

Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. She studies how human interactions drive successful enterprises and has authored seven books and over 60 scholarly papers. Amy is a sought-after keynote speaker with a global following, helping leaders and organisations embrace learning, psychological safety, and innovation.

CONNECT WITH AMY: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycedmondson/ Books: The Fearless Organization, Teaming, Right Kind of Wrong, and more

SCALEX AND SIMPLE SCALING:

Book: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10x Your Business ScaleX Elevate: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-elevate (for businesses under £2M revenue) ScaleX Accelerator: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-accelerator-programme(for businesses over £2M revenue) Website: https://simplescaling.com Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simple-scaling Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplescaling

ScaleX Insider is a 12-month journey for ambitious SME leaders combining strategy, mindset work, and peer support to break through revenue plateaus.

Podcast Host: Brendan McGurgan, Co-Founder Simple Scaling

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