Psychological Safety in the Workplace
- Dan Freschi - EDGE
- Dec 4, 2025
- 8 min read
Updated: Dec 9, 2025
A Guide for Managers and Leaders New to the Concept
In interdependent workplaces, performance and innovation hinge not only on technical excellence but also on how well teams collaborate, learn, and challenge the status quo. That’s why psychological safety isn’t just a “nice-to-have” for managers and leaders. It’s a foundational condition for high-performing teams.
As Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, and author of The Fearless Organization, puts it:
“Psychological safety is broadly defined as a climate in which people are comfortable expressing concerns, questions, mistakes, and they won’t be humiliated or punished for doing so.”
And as Timothy R. Clark, a leadership expert and author of The Four Stages of Psychological Safety, describes in his framework, teams progress through successive levels of safety, from simply belonging, to learning, to contributing, and finally to challenging the system.
For managers and leaders new to this topic, especially in sectors like healthcare and non-profit education, this article seeks to demystify psychological safety, explain why it matters, and offer practical examples you can apply to your teams.
Why Psychological Safety Matters
Psychological safety is not just a concept, but a catalyst for performance, learning, and innovation in interdependent workplaces. It's the key to unlocking your team's full potential and pushing the boundaries of what's possible.
Edmondson’s research in healthcare settings found something counterintuitive: higher-performing teams often reported more errors, not fewer. Why? Because they felt safe enough to speak up about mistakes and concerns.
She states:
“For knowledge work to flourish … the workplace must be one where people feel able to share their knowledge! This means sharing concerns, questions, mistakes, and half-formed ideas.”
In other words, if people hide errors, don’t ask questions, or are afraid to speak up, you not only lose learning and safety, but you also risk stifling innovation and collaboration, and potentially compromising patient care in healthcare settings or student outcomes in non-profit education.
For team well-being and retention
Psychological safety is also connected to job satisfaction, engagement and retention. Edmondson’s work shows that people in safe environments feel valued and more committed.
For high-stakes environments
In healthcare, especially, where errors can cost lives, psychological safety is essential. As Edmondson explains:
“You have to proactively invite input… say, ‘What did you see last night? You were rounding on patients. What’s going on?”
In non-profit educational organizations, too, where mission matters, innovation matters and the work is interdependent, psychological safety helps teams navigate uncertainty, ask hard questions, experiment and learn.
The Four Stages of Psychological Safety
Clark’s framework offers a practical way to think about the progression of psychological safety in teams.
These four stages are cumulative, and you cannot meaningfully skip ahead.
Each stage builds on the previous ones.
Here are the stages:
Inclusion Safety
At this stage, team members feel safe to be themselves and accepted for who they are. It satisfies the basic human need to connect and belong.
What it looks like: People feel accepted, they believe the team wants them there, and they feel included.
Manager role: Foster belonging. Ensure newcomers are welcomed. Recognize differences. Be inclusive.
Example in healthcare: A new nurse on a unit meets the team, is invited to join shift-handover discussions, and is explicitly told, “You matter here.”
Example in non-profit education: A new program staff member from a diverse background is introduced, invited to a team meeting, consulted about what they bring, and not treated as “just someone different.”
Learner Safety
Once inclusion is established, the next step is for people to feel safe to learn, ask questions, try new things, make mistakes, and give and receive feedback. It meets the human need to grow.
What it looks like: People say, “I don’t know,” “Can you help me?,” “Let’s try this and see.” Mistakes are treated as learning opportunities.
Manager role: Encourage questions, model vulnerability, de-stigmatize mistakes.
Example in healthcare: On rounds, a physician leader says, “I’m not sure about this drug dose either. Who wants to check with the pharmacy together?” A nurse asks for help without fear of retribution.
Example in non-profit education: In a program-planning meeting, the director says, “Let’s experiment with this new outreach approach. If it fails, we will learn why and improve.” Staff feel free to suggest novel ideas without fear of being punished for failure.
Contributor Safety
At this stage, the team member feels safe to contribute meaningfully: to use their skills, ideas and voice. It satisfies the need to make a difference.
What it looks like: People volunteer ideas, engage actively, and are empowered to drive work.
Manager role: Delegate meaningful tasks, ask for input, listen to contributions and respond positively.
Example in healthcare: A unit manager asks the clinical pharmacist to propose changes to medication-safety protocols, and follows through on those proposals. The pharmacist feels their voice matters.
Example in non-profit education: A program manager invites a front-line education coordinator to co-lead an initiative with decision-making authority. The coordinator knows their ideas will be heard and acted upon.
Challenger Safety
This is the highest stage. Team members feel safe to challenge the status quo: to question, protest, and propose significant changes. It satisfies the need to make things better.
What it looks like: “May I suggest a better way of doing this?”, healthy dissent, respectful debate, constructive conflict.
Manager role: Invite dissent, show you welcome it, respond thoughtfully to challenges; avoid defensive reactions.
Example in healthcare: A nurse raises concern to the chief of surgery: “Can we re-examine the process of hand-off between OR and ICU? I’ve observed a pattern that may lead to delays.” The chief thanks the nurse and collaborates to redesign the hand-off.
Example in non-profit education: A teacher challenges the executive director: “Our current curriculum doesn’t reflect the student population’s evolving needs. Can we rethink our model?” The director accepts the challenge and convenes a working group.
Applying the Four Stages: A Roadmap for Managers & Leaders
As a manager or leader, how do you build psychological safety in your team or organization? Here’s a step-by-step roadmap aligned with Clark’s stages and informed by Edmondson’s insights.
Step 1: Assess Where Your Team Is
Use Clark’s four stages as a lens: Do people feel they belong (Inclusion)? Do they feel safe to learn? Can they contribute? Can they challenge?
Observe behaviors: Are questions asked? Are mistakes hidden? Is voice limited?
Ask your team: “When was the last time someone asked you for help and you felt safe saying yes or no?”
Step 2: Lead from the Front: Model Desired Behaviors
As Edmondson advises: “You’re not the boss of psychological safety, you are the architect of it.”
Model vulnerability: Make occasional mistakes visible, ask for help publicly, say “I don’t know.”
Invite participation: Ask open-ended questions: “What are we missing?” “What concerns you?” “What could go wrong?”
Respond productively: When someone speaks up, thank them. Do not ridicule or punish. Use failures as learning opportunities.
Step 3: Build Norms and Practices for Each Stage
Inclusion Safety: Onboard new people deliberately; encourage sharing of personal and professional backgrounds; ensure no one is left out; highlight diverse contributions.
Learner Safety: Establish learning cycles; schedule reflection sessions; encourage sharing mistakes; reinforce “we learn together.”
Contributor Safety: Delegate authority; give meaningful work; create opportunities for people to apply what they learn; recognize contributions.
Challenger Safety: Explicitly invite dissent; hold safe forums for feedback; ensure senior leaders respond positively to challenge; make continuous improvement part of the culture.
Step 4: Practical Tactics in Healthcare and Non-profit Education
Healthcare example:
A hospital unit launches a weekly “small fail” meeting: any team member shares one thing that didn’t go ideally, what was learned, and what to do differently. This reinforces learner and contributor safety.
A senior clinician opens rounds by saying: “Today I want to hear from every newcomer about what they observed overnight, no matter how small.” This builds inclusion and signals challenger safety.
The executive leadership holds “skip-level” lunches where frontline staff speak directly to the CNO (Chief Nurse Officer) about systemic issues. This creates challenger safety.
Non-profit education example:
A non-profit tutoring organization starts each staff meeting with each person sharing one learning from the past week, what went well, and what didn’t. This fosters learner safety.
The program director invites tutors and mentors to propose new program pilots, allocate seed funds, and deliver results. This builds contributor safety.
At the annual strategy retreat, the executive director asks: “What policies or ways of working are holding us back? What would you change if you were standing in my shoes?” This encourages challenger safety.
Step 5: Monitor, Sustain and Advance
Regularly revisit: Are you still stuck at Inclusion? Or have you progressed toward Contributor or Challenger?
Use pulse surveys or quick check-ins asking: “Today I felt safe to speak up,” or “I feel I can propose new ideas.”
Recognize that this is not a one-and-done initiative; it’s a culture change. Clark reminds us that teams progress through the stages, not skip them.
Avoid complacency: As Edmondson says, “Psychological safety isn’t the goal. It’s the environment that allows us to reach our goals.”
Overcoming Common Obstacles
Hierarchy & power dynamics: In healthcare and some non-profits, hierarchy can suppress voice. Edmondson highlights that even in hierarchical settings, psychological safety can be fostered when senior leaders invite input and acknowledge fallibility.
Fear of failure or blame: When mistakes are punished, people hide errors. You must shift from blame to learning, emphasize experimentation, and not expect perfection the first time.
Lack of trust: Without trust (which often arises from inclusion safety), learning and contribution cannot flourish.
Varying safety levels across groups: Some teams may be at stage 1, others at stage 3, leaders must tailor interventions accordingly. Clark notes that a mismatch across stages can lead to tension.
Sustainability: Many efforts fizzle after initial enthusiasm. Embedding norms, measurement, and accountability keeps the momentum going.
Psychological Safety in the Workplace Summary
For managers and leaders who are new to psychological safety: think of it less as a “nice culture add-on” and more as the foundation on which everything else (learning, contribution, innovation) rests. Use Timothy Clark’s four-stage model, Inclusion, Learner, Contributor, Challenger, as your roadmap. Leverage Amy Edmondson’s research to underscore why this matters, especially in settings where the cost of silence is high.
In healthcare and non-profit education, the stakes are not only performance but also well-being, mission fulfillment, innovation, and safety. As a leader, you have the power to shape the environment so that team members feel included, safe to learn, safe to contribute, and safe to challenge. When you get that right, people show up as their whole selves, share ideas, take smart risks, and commit to the work, and your organization benefits accordingly.
Key takeaways for you:
Start with inclusion: ensure every person feels they belong.
Foster learner safety: encourage questions, experiments, mistakes.
Build contributor safety: let people use their skills and voice.
Push toward challenger safety: invite dissent, change, innovation.
Model the behaviors yourself, vulnerability, asking questions, and welcoming feedback.
Monitor your progress and embed psychological safety into the culture, not just a one-time initiative.
If you do this, you’ll build teams that are not only more engaged but also more adaptable, more innovative, and better able to thrive in a world of complexity and uncertainty.
Our blog content is free to cite, reference, or share for non-commercial purposes. We only ask that you credit the original author and, if possible, include a link back to our website. We appreciate your respect for our work and commitment to sharing knowledge responsibly.
Comments