Psychological Safety Workshops
The highest performing teams have established psychological safety.
Psychological Safety Unleashes Full Potential
Teams thrive when people feel safe to speak up. By fostering openness, listening without judgement, and encouraging candid perspectives, leaders can cultivate psychological safety—the essential foundation where creativity flourishes, engagement soars, and top talent is retained.
HumanPoint has developed workshops that help managers and employees understand their role and responsibility in creating and maintaining psychological safety in their teams. Sessions can be delivered to intact teams ready to advance their inclusive culture or organizations looking to propagate psychological safety company-wide.
Let HumanPoint become your partner in empowering your leaders and employees to build psychological safety on their teams.
The Manager’s Role in Creating Psychological Safety
Managers need to consistently demonstrate through words and actions that the team environment is psychologically safe for risk-taking and truth-telling. This lays the foundation for the openness required for peak performance.
Here are some key ways managers can create psychological safety:
- Model vulnerability and openness themselves. Admit mistakes, ask for feedback, and share when they feel unsure. This signals that it’s okay for others to take interpersonal risks.
- Actively listen without judgment. Seek to understand rather than react when team members voice concerns or differing opinions.
- Establish clear norms of respect and transparency. Make it clear that all perspectives are valued and issues can be raised constructively.
- Offer support rather than criticism when people make errors. Focus on learning over blame.
- Never embarrass or punish those who speak up. Make it safe to voice concerns, admit mistakes, or deliver bad news.
- Welcome challenges to your own opinions. Don’t get defensive if team members question your approach. Seek first to understand their reasoning.
- Give sincere, specific positive feedback when people do speak up or share bold ideas.
- Foster connections beyond work tasks. Build relationships and trust through team-building activities.
The Employee’s Role in Creating Psychological Safety
Employees are also responsible for creating and maintaining psychological safety on their teams. Essentially, employees should collaborate in good faith, extend trust generously, listen earnestly, and maintain confidentiality. This contributes to an environment where the team feels safe to be vulnerable and truth-telling.
Here are some ways employees can help create and maintain psychological safety on their teams:
- Be vulnerable themselves. Share when they feel unsure, admit mistakes, and ask sincere questions. This models openness for others.
- Actively listen to colleagues. Seek to understand rather than react when someone shares a perspective you disagree with.
- Assume positive intent. Give teammates the benefit of the doubt rather than jumping to negative conclusions.
- Avoid gossip and back-channel conversations that undermine trust. Speak directly to teammates if you have a concern.
- Offer support when others make mistakes. Help teammates learn rather than assigning blame.
- Give sincere appreciation when others take risks or share bold ideas.
- Share credit and highlight teammates’ contributions. Avoid competition and self-promotion.
- Respect confidentiality if someone discloses sensitive information. Don’t share private details with others.
- Participate in team-building activities to foster connections beyond work tasks.
- Raise issues or concerns respectfully and constructively. Avoid attacking language.
- Respond graciously if a teammate raises a concern. Thank them for the courage it took to speak up.
Workshop Options
A Manager and Their Team
A leader and their direct team engage in an interactive workshop on creating and maintaining psychological safety within their team.
Number of Participants: Up to 30
Delivery options: In-person – $5,000 or Virtual – $3,000
Leaders Small Group
Groups of leaders from across the organization are assembled to discuss and understand a leader and manager’s role in creating and maintaining psychological safety.
Number of participants: Up to 12 per group
Delivery options: In-Person – $5,000 or Virtual – $3,000
All Employees
Groups of employees from across the organization attend workshops and learn about their role in creating and maintaining psychological safety on their teams.
Number of participants: Up to 100 per group
Delivery options: In-Person – $5,000 or Virtual – $4,000