We’ve worked with all kinds of teams – the ones who bounce ideas off the walls in brilliant brainstorms, and the ones who communicate in Slack and email threads so long and tense they could keep you awake at night. But we’ve noticed, looking at either end of the collaboration and communication spectrum, one thing keeps popping up:
The best ideas die fastest in unsafe environments.
Not physically unsafe (though that’s important too – don’t run with scissors). We’re talking about psychological safety – the kind of workplace culture where people feel safe to speak up, admit mistakes, challenge ideas, and ask, “Wait, what does that acronym mean again?”
It’s not a nice-to-have. It’s the backbone of high-performing teams. And you’d think it would be a given.
What is psychological safety?
Amy Edmondson, a Harvard Business School professor, defines it as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”
Translation: You won’t be laughed at, punished, or quietly excluded for being honest and speaking your mind.
In psychologically safe teams, people speak freely. Not because they’re brave – but because they don’t have to be. In the ideal, non-toxic environment, there’s nothing to prove, only to learn!
The stats don’t lie.
Not buying it yet? Let’s look at the numbers:
- According to Google’s massive ‘Project Aristotle’, psychological safety was the number one predictor of team success.
- A Gallup study found that only 3 in 10 employees strongly agree that their opinions count at work. But if that figure rises to 6 in 10? Companies see a 27% reduction in turnover, 40% fewer safety incidents, and 12% higher productivity.
- McKinsey reports that teams with high psychological safety are more innovative, more agile, and less stressed.
And if that all sounds a bit yawn-worthy-conference-deck, here’s our no-nonsense definition…
Psychological safety is the difference between “We tried this, and it didn’t work” and “I didn’t speak up and we lost six weeks of time and money.”
What’s this got to do with employer brand or employee experience?
In a word: everything. Because the way people feel at work is the brand – whether you’ve designed it or not.
With our team, for example, whether we’re working on a rebrand, a pitch deck, or a strategic campaign – our creative work thrives on risk. New ideas feel a bit uncomfy. Good writing often sounds a bit wrong at first. And the real breakthroughs always come after someone says, “This might be stupid, but…”
That’s not a flaw in our process – that is the process. But it only works when the room feels safe enough to take creative risks. That safety isn’t a by-product. It’s the foundation for people to flourish.
If you want standout work, you need a team that’s comfortable speaking out. You need an environment where the junior copywriter can challenge the strategy director – and be heard.
You need psychological safety.
So, how do we build it?
We’re not pretending it’s easy – culture change takes more than a toilet door poster and a team lunch. But we’ve found a few starting points that really matter:
Leaders go first. Admitting mistakes, asking for feedback, and demonstrating openness sets the tone.
Normalise feedback. Give it regularly, receive it graciously, and keep it constructive.
Watch your silence. If someone never speaks up, ask yourself why. If everyone agrees all the time, that’s a worry too.
Celebrate curiosity. Make space for the “dumb” questions. They come from a genuine desire for clarification, to challenge assumptions, or to fill a gap in knowledge.
At MuddyWellies, we take this seriously. Not just because we want great ideas (though we absolutely do), but because we know people do their best work when they feel safe to bring their full, flawed, fantastic selves to the table.
If you want your people to open up – but they won’t – an external voice can help unlock what’s really going on. That’s why our immersion stage exists. We’ve spent years earning the trust of teams from the inside out.
And we don’t just talk the talk. We apply the same standards to ourselves. Because we can’t claim to be people-first, or expect to shape strong internal cultures, if we’re not living it too.
Dig a little deeper into our people engagement services here: https://wearemuddywellies.com/what-we-do/
Or get in touch for a chat about how psychological safety can transform your team: hello@wearemuddywellies.com