Psychological safety has become one of those phrases that gets thrown around in meetings, often alongside trust, wellbeing, and belonging. It’s been celebrated as the holy grail of high-performing teams — but when it’s misunderstood, it risks becoming another corporate cliché instead of moving from buzzword to real employee experience.
Recent research in Harvard Business Review highlights six common misconceptions about psychological safety, many of which I see play out in organisations I work with.
These myths matter because they stop leaders from creating the environments employees need to thrive. And when chief people officers are under pressure to improve the employee experience, clarity is everything.
What psychological safety is — and isn’t
Let’s start with the basics: psychological safety isn’t about being nice. It’s not about avoiding conflict, always agreeing, or ensuring everyone feels comfortable all the time. In fact, safety and comfort aren’t the same thing. Safety means you can take interpersonal risks and ask the “stupid” question, share the bad news, or challenge a decision, without fear of ridicule or punishment.
This is where trust comes in. As I’ve written before, trust and psychological safety aren’t the same thing. Trust is relational — I trust you. Psychological safety is cultural — we believe it’s safe to speak up. Both matter, but confusing them can lead leaders down the wrong path.
The myths that get in the way
According to Edmondson and Kerrissey, leaders often fall into traps such as:
- Thinking psychological safety means everyone has to agree or get their way. It doesn’t. The point is to be heard, not to win.
- Assuming it equals job security. Safety isn’t about guaranteeing a role; it’s about guaranteeing your voice is welcome, even when the message is hard.
- Believing it’s a trade-off with performance. In reality, accountability and psychological safety fuel each other. You can’t have high performance without an environment where people can raise concerns and share ideas.
- Treating it as a policy or top-down initiative. No amount of HR paperwork creates candour. Psychological safety is built, interaction by interaction, in the way we communicate, listen, and respond.
These misconceptions echo what I often see with leadership authority. When authority is misunderstood, leaders can either cling to power or avoid making decisions altogether — both of which erode credibility. Similarly, when psychological safety is misunderstood, leaders risk creating teams that are either paralysed by fear or lulled into false harmony.
What leaders can do differently
So how do we move from myth to meaningful change?
Three things for you to consider:
- Focus on purpose, not buzzwords. Psychological safety is not the end goal; it’s the enabler. Anchor conversations in the goals of the team or organisation. When people know why their voice matters, they’re more likely to use it.
- Invest in the quality of conversations. I often say communication isn’t about channels, it’s about conversations. High-quality conversations are candid, curious, and constructive. They leave people feeling more informed, not more drained.
- Rebuild trust through consistent behaviour. Trust isn’t restored with a town hall or a policy statement. It’s rebuilt in how leaders show up — acknowledging mistakes, inviting challenge, and acting on feedback. As I’ve written before, credibility comes from alignment between words and actions.
For chief people officers, the challenge is cutting through noise. Psychological safety can’t be mandated or measured into existence. It has to be modelled and reinforced daily, by leaders and by peers.
The real question isn’t “How do we make people feel safe?” but “How do we create the conditions where honest, even uncomfortable, conversations drive better decisions and experiences?”
Because when people feel both trusted and safe to contribute, organisations stop firefighting symptoms and start solving root causes. That’s how you shift from chaos to calm. Get in touch if you’d like to discuss how to shift the culture inside your organisation.
