“We do have training on the topic,” they said to me. Upon asking for details, they replied, “We cover topics like creating trust and emotional intelligence.” I’ve heard this often in my conversations with business professionals.

Some people think that creating psychological safety is the same as creating trust in a team. Of course, trust is crucial to create psychological safety. “Psychological safety” is a term that includes trust and other important concepts. In fact, psychological safety is more than creating trust and listening to others. Your team may trust you, and you may be a good listener to your team members. Yet your team might be in a comfort zone and might not be high-performing. Or you might not know the best ways to deal with some of the mistakes that occur in your team, and that could damage psychological safety at work. Psychological safety is a key aspect of high-performing teams.

There are different definitions of psychological safety. Inspired by the work of Prof. Amy Edmondson,  here is how I define psychological safety: Psychological safety is a work environment where employees feel safe to express their questions, concerns, ideas, and make mistakes. 

According to a Gallup report published in 2017, when employees feel that their opinions count and they feel that there is psychological safety, we see a 27% reduction in employee turnover, 40% reduction in safety incidents and 12% increase in productivity. 

Yet many of us might have engaged in behaviors that can damage psychological safety at work. “That’s a stupid question!” was the reply I got when I dared to ask a question. It was the answer of a senior manager at a company I previously worked at. At that moment, I didn’t know how to respond, and I felt powerless. After that experience, I tried to minimize the number of questions I asked the senior manager. It was the same for other employees, who also felt fearful. They knew they’d get the same answer I did: “That’s a stupid question!” The company culture was quite toxic. 

What is worse, other employees in the company began to imitate the senior manager. “That’s a stupid question!” was commonly heard in company meetings. This company was number two in the world in its small niche market—but it never became number one. There were certainly many reasons for that. One was the lack of psychological safety in the workplace. 

Let’s take a look at two important ways to improve psychological safety: listening consciously and creating trust. 

Without effective listening, we cannot have a psychologically safe workplace. Six listening types are described in Julian Treasure’s book, How to Be Heard: Secrets for Powerful Speaking and Listening.

Passive listening occurs when we listen to someone but we don’t pay close attention to what they’re telling us. For example, when I’m stressed at the family dinner table thinking about challenges I encountered during my work day, I have difficulty giving my full attention to my wife or daughter. In a business setting, employees sometimes check their mobile phones while their colleagues are making presentations. These can be frustrating experiences for the person who is speaking. 

Active listening is the opposite of passive listening. Giving full and undivided attention to another person, not interrupting them, paraphrasing what is being communicated to us, and providing a summary of all that was said are the ideal steps of active listening. The closer we can come to that, the better. 

Critical listening involves finding mistakes, and identifying missing points as we listen to someone else. Saying “You didn’t mention this in the meeting” or “You did not do that” can be examples of critical listening. If we listen critically by default, this can have a negative influence on the motivation of our colleagues, bosses, or peers. In fact, in our personal lives, constantly approaching our loved ones with critical listening can kill the intimacy in a relationship. “That’s a stupid question!” is another example of what a critical listener might say and thereby damage psychological safety. 

Empathic listening includes both cognitive and emotional empathy. Cognitive empathy is about rationality, and understanding ideas of a person we listen to. On the other hand, emotional empathy involves understanding the other person’s feelings. Understanding both emotions and thoughts is key to empathic listening which contributes to psychological safety. 

Reductive listening means making suggestions without listening fully to someone else. Men tend to do this more often than women do. Imagine that your loved one starts talking about their day, their frustrations, and the challenges they faced, often because they just need your complete attention and nothing else. You might abruptly interrupt them to say, “Why don’t you do (x, y, or z) and solve your problems?” 

Expansive listening is the opposite of reductive listening. The aim is to ask clarifying questions and allow the person to express themselves fully without any interruptions or suggestions. Sometimes what a person needs is someone who can listen to them without solving their problems for them. 

In case we automatically listen in a passive, critical, or reductive manner, this has a negative effect on the psychological safety in a team. 

There can be cases where we can do expansive listening, especially when our employees or colleagues are going through trauma after a natural disaster. 

Additionally, when we have a meeting on topic A and there is a colleague talking about a topic totally unrelated to the meeting agenda, we can politely interrupt that person to bring them back to the agenda. 

Active and empathic listening, especially, are key aspects of achieving psychological safety not only in our business, but also in our personal lives. The biggest barrier to effective listening is our own internal voice. “This person is just wrong,” “I know better,” “They are incompetent!” or thinking of your own answer while another person talks all are examples of these internal voices that in many cases we might be unaware of.

In addition to listening consciously, it is essential that we strive to have a high level of trust within our teams. Five aspects of trust is a tool that can help us in that regard.

Competency, with respect to skills, abilities, and knowledge, is essential. The more competent we are, the higher the likelihood of creating trust. Early in my career, I was in charge of a technical project, and my level of competence was quite low. I remember having a tough time creating trust in the team. 

Openness has a positive effect on trust. Sharing unambiguous feed- back with colleagues and employees, having clear goals, and setting expectations straightforwardly in the beginning are cornerstones of openness. 

Honesty is about keeping our promises, and is foundational to trust. Promising something at work and not delivering on it damages trust. 

Consistency means “walking the talk.” Senior managers at one organisation were talking about the significance of collaboration and respect in all-hands meetings. Later, these same managers had internal meetings where they shouted at each other, and other employees eventually found out about this behavior. Thereafter, it was very difficult for the senior managers to create trust in their organisation. 

Good intentions is mainly about the perception of others. If people perceive us as having good intentions, they are more likely to trust us. If others think that we have bad intentions (e.g., to fire many employees), it becomes incredibly hard for us to create trust. 

Please remember that listening consciously and creating trust are very important to foster psychological safety—they are the basics. Yet, psychological safety is simply more than trust and listening. Psychological safety is a work environment where employees feel safe to express their questions, concerns, ideas, and make mistakes. 

Editor’s Note: Excerpted with permission from the author, from Creating Psychological Safety at Work, by Mehmet Baha. Copyright © 2024 by Mehmet Baha. All rights reserved. This book is available worldwide on Amazon.