What is Psychological Safety? (And What It Isn’t)

To lead effectively, we must first define our terms. The concept of psychological safety was pioneered and popularized by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson. She defines it as a "shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking" (Edmondson, 1999).

In simpler terms, it is about creating a culture of rewarded vulnerability.

It is the confidence that no one on the team will be punished, embarrassed, or marginalized for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or—crucially—mistakes. It is an environment where employees feel they can bring their full selves to work without fear of negative consequences to their self-image, status, or career.

Because the term sounds "soft," it is often misunderstood by high-performance leaders in technical fields. Let’s be clear about what psychological safety is not:

It is NOT about being “nice”: Psychological safety is not about avoiding conflict. In fact, it is the opposite. It is about making it safe to speak up so people can engage in the "productive friction" necessary for excellence.
It is NOT lowering standards: You can have high psychological safety and high performance standards. This is the "Learning Zone." When you have high standards but low safety, you create the "Anxiety Zone," where people hide errors to survive.
It is NOT eliminating accountability: Psychological safety makes it easier to hold people accountable because the barriers to honesty are removed. Leaders can address the root cause of an issue rather than the symptoms of a cover-up.

Psychological Safety vs. Trust

While often used interchangeably, there is a distinct academic and practical difference. Trust is an individual-level belief; it is about your confidence in another person's actions or intentions. Psychological Safety is a group-level belief—a "team climate" (Edmondson, 1999). It is the shared sense of how the group will react when someone takes a risk.

You might trust your boss individually, but still not feel that the group environment is safe to speak or admit a mistake in front of your peers.