Psychological safety isn’t a perk. It’s a necessity. In a fast-paced, high-stakes workplace, employees need more than just clarity on their roles—they need the freedom to ask questions, admit mistakes, and share new ideas without fear. This environment, where trust outweighs judgment, is what experts call psychological safety.
In Receptive and Ready, Paul Artell dives deep into how effective leaders foster this kind of culture—not with slogans, but with small, powerful actions that ripple across teams. In this blog, we’ll unpack what psychological safety looks like and offer proven strategies to help you build it in your organization.
What Is Psychological Safety?
Psychological safety means your team members feel safe to be vulnerable in front of one another. It means:
- Speaking up without fear of ridicule
- Admitting mistakes without punishment
- Asking questions without being dismissed
- Challenging the status quo without being sidelined
When psychological safety is present, innovation grows, collaboration thrives, and turnover drops. But when it’s absent? Silence replaces honesty—and progress stalls.
Artell defines it as the “emotional permission to be human at work.”
Why Psychological Safety Matters
According to Artell, safety is the precondition for performance. Without it, teams hesitate. People play it safe. They say what’s expected—not what’s needed. In one example, he shares how a brilliant employee withheld a game-changing insight during a strategy meeting because she “didn’t want to seem critical.” The team moved forward, only to revisit the decision weeks later when problems surfaced.
That’s not a failure of intelligence. It’s a failure of culture.
And it’s avoidable.
Start with Self-Work: Model Vulnerability
The first step to creating psychological safety isn’t what you say—it’s what you show.
Artell emphasizes the importance of “leader vulnerability.” When leaders admit what they don’t know, apologize for mistakes, or share their learning process, they set the tone: It’s safe to be imperfect here.
Try these approaches:
- Begin meetings by sharing something you’re still figuring out.
- Acknowledge when a decision didn’t work out—and what you learned.
- Use phrases like “I need help understanding this” or “I might be wrong here.”
Your openness gives permission to others.
Normalize Feedback in Every Direction
Feedback should not be a special occasion. It should be part of the air your team breathes. But Artell points out that most workplaces focus on top-down feedback, while psychological safety flourishes with bidirectional feedback.
Encourage your team to give feedback:
- To one another (peer-to-peer)
- To leadership (upward feedback)
- About the process, not just the outcome
Set the expectation by asking directly, “What’s one thing I could’ve done better this week?” And when you receive feedback? Thank them. Show change. Let them see that their voice matters.
Create Rituals of Openness
Rituals are small acts that, over time, create strong cultural signals. In Receptive and Ready, Artell shares how one manager would open every meeting with a simple prompt: “What’s one thing on your mind today?”
That invitation changed everything. It gave space for personal check-ins, creative thoughts, and even quiet frustrations. Within months, the team’s dynamic shifted. People began offering ideas more freely, surfacing roadblocks earlier, and offering support proactively.
Other powerful rituals include:
- “Failure of the week” celebrations
- Anonymous suggestion boxes (followed by public responses)
- Monthly “learning days” where everyone shares something new
The message? This is a place for honesty and growth.
Respond to Mistakes with Curiosity, Not Blame
One of the biggest threats to psychological safety is how a leader reacts when something goes wrong.
Artell recounts a story where a new hire made a major error that cost the team weeks of work. Instead of a public scolding, the leader called a private meeting and asked, “Can you walk me through what happened? I want to understand where our process might have failed you.”
This response transformed the mistake into a learning moment. It also signaled to everyone else on the team: We solve problems together, not with shame but with shared responsibility.
Acknowledge Effort, Not Just Results
Recognition plays a crucial role in reinforcing safety. But the kind of recognition matters.
In the book, Artell highlights a team leader who began acknowledging not just success, but effort. She praised thoughtful risk-taking—even when it didn’t pan out. She called out curiosity and collaborative behavior in front of the group.
Why does this matter? Because when you only reward results, people play it safe. But when you reward courage, learning, and initiative, you build a culture where people dare to contribute.
Invite Dissent—Then Act on It
Psychological safety doesn’t mean everyone agrees all the time. Quite the opposite. It means people feel comfortable disagreeing.
Create opportunities for dissent by:
- Asking “What are we missing?”
- Assigning someone the role of “devil’s advocate” during planning
- Reframing disagreement as contribution: “That’s a great pushback—tell me more.”
But here’s the catch: Don’t ignore the feedback. Nothing destroys safety faster than pretending to listen. When someone speaks up and nothing changes—or worse, they’re punished for it—they won’t speak up again.
Artell stresses the need to “close the loop.” Respond. Follow up. Show progress.
Be Consistent Across the Organization
A single safe manager does not create a safe company. Artell emphasizes that psychological safety must be modeled at all levels. If your CEO speaks about openness but your mid-level managers punish dissent, the message doesn’t hold.
Train your entire leadership pipeline in:
- Active listening
- Giving and receiving feedback
- Emotional intelligence
- Conflict resolution
Psychological safety is fragile. Inconsistency kills it. But with shared values and leadership habits, it can thrive.
Track and Measure the Environment
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Use surveys, focus groups, or anonymous feedback tools to assess how safe people actually feel.
Ask questions like:
- Do you feel comfortable speaking up in meetings?
- When you make a mistake, how does your team respond?
- Do you feel your ideas are taken seriously?
But don’t stop at data collection. Share the results. Discuss them openly. Involve your team in creating the next steps. That alone builds more safety.
Safety Is the Soil, Not the Fruit
In Receptive and Ready, Paul Artell writes, “Psychological safety is not a reward for great performance—it’s the soil from which great performance grows.”
If you want creativity, accountability, innovation, and resilience, you must first make people feel safe. Safe to speak, safe to fail, safe to be seen.
It doesn’t take a radical overhaul. It takes consistent, human moments: listening deeply, responding with care, and showing your own imperfections.
Start with small changes. Celebrate the brave voices. And over time, you’ll find that psychological safety isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a leadership advantage that changes everything.
