7 Deadly Sins of Psychological Safety

Language plays a critical role in fostering psychological safety.

Let me illustrate this by two contrasting examples. In one instance, a project manager failed to deliver on an agreed scope, and when senior leaders intervened, the manager was harshly asked, “Who’s standing on the fault line? Whose salary should we deduct for this?” This punitive language created a hostile environment, discouraging openness and learning.

In a different scenario, when a member of my product development team made an error affecting a client’s production database, the leader approached it differently. Instead of blaming, he reiterated his confidence in the team leader saying, “I know we’ve made a mistake, but I’m confident you can quickly fix this before it causes any financial damage.” This response boosted morale and led to a quick resolution. Later, during the retrospective, he asked, “What can we learn from this to prevent it from happening again?” This shift from blame to learning fostered reflection and improvement.

I read Tom Geraghty’s newsletter on Psychological Safety with great interest. In a latest edition, Tom outlines Seven deadly sins of pshchological safety. I highly recommend his newsletter if you are someone who is trying build a psychologically safe culture. (Full post here)

Learning to be mindful of our language is key to maturing as leaders. Our words shape workplace culture, either encouraging risk-taking and innovation or stifling initiative.

Here are seven deadly sins of psychological safety in a visual form.

Complement this reading with my earlier post on “Conversations that build psychological safety” by Amy Edmondson. 

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