What is psychological safety?

It is acts as the foundation for healthy conflict. But what is it?

I want to begin our exploration of conflict by clarifying a fundamental concept: psychological safety. This came up repeatedly in the responses I received to yesterday’s post (thank you).

What is psychological safety?

✅ Psychological safety is a felt sense of permission for candor.

(Candor on any work-relevant idea or information, if we're talking about this in the workplace).

What psychological safety is not:

❌ being "nice"

❌ the absence of conflict

❌ belonging or fitting in

❌ permission to whine or spew every random thought that flows through your head

To go deeper here, I highly recommend listening to this conversation I had with Amy Edmondson, the world expert in psychological safety. (Note, the ep was under the original show name, "Enliven.")