Okay, so I kept hearing about this “psychological safety” stuff, right? Seemed like another buzzword floating around. Then someone shared a document, something like “the 4 stages of psychological safety pdf” was the title, I think. Didn’t pay much attention at first.
But things on a project I was involved in felt… stuck. People were quiet in meetings, nobody really wanted to stick their neck out. You know the feeling? Like everyone’s just waiting for someone else to talk first or make a decision. It was slowing things down. So, I dug up that PDF thing again, figured I’d actually read it this time.
It broke things down into four stages. Made some sense, actually. Not like rocket science, more like common sense packaged up.
Trying Stuff Out
First Stage: Inclusion Safety. The idea is just feeling safe to be yourself, part of the group. Seemed basic. So, I started making a real effort. Just saying good morning to folks, asking about their weekend, simple stuff. In meetings, I tried to consciously make space, like actually calling on quieter people, asking “Hey [Name], what are your thoughts on this?” Didn’t want to put them on the spot, but just showing I wanted to hear from them. Some folks opened up a bit, others still stayed quiet. No magic wand here.
Second Stage: Learner Safety. Feeling safe to ask questions, make mistakes, learn. This felt important. We had folks who were clearly smart but hesitant. So, I tried admitting when I didn’t know something. Sounds silly, but saying “Actually, I’m not sure about that, can someone explain X?” seemed to loosen things up slightly. Also, when someone made a small mistake, I tried hard to frame it as a learning thing, “Okay, what can we learn from this?” instead of getting annoyed. Saw a few more questions pop up after a while, which was good.
Third Stage: Contributor Safety. Feeling safe to actually do something, make a contribution. This was linked to the quiet meetings thing. I started assigning smaller, specific pieces of work directly to people, giving them clear ownership. Not just tasks, but asking them to “figure out the best way to approach X and let us know”. Giving them the reins on something small. Some people really stepped up when given that explicit permission and ownership. Others still needed more prompting.
Fourth Stage: Challenger Safety. This is the hard one. Feeling safe to challenge the way things are, disagree with the boss (that’s me sometimes, gulp). Honestly, this is where I struggled the most and still do. I tried saying things like “Does anyone see a downside to this plan?” or “Please poke holes in this idea.” But it’s tough. People are naturally hesitant to disagree, especially upwards. I got a few challenges, small ones. When I did, I made a massive effort to thank the person and really discuss their point, even if I didn’t agree in the end. Showing it was okay. It’s still a work in progress, big time.
So, What Happened?
Did reading that PDF and trying this stuff magically fix everything? Nope. Of course not. It’s not a checklist where you do A, B, C and suddenly everyone’s holding hands singing kumbaya while brainstorming revolutionary ideas.
But did it help? Yeah, I think so. Meetings are a bit less awkward. People seem slightly more willing to ask a question or admit they messed up. We got a couple of decent ideas from unexpected places when people felt they could actually contribute without getting shot down. It’s slow going. You have to constantly do it, constantly show people it’s safe. It’s more about consistent behavior from leaders and the team over time than reading a document.
That PDF just gave me a frame, a way to think about it and some concrete things to try. The real work was actually doing those things, day in, day out, even when it felt a bit forced at first. And realizing it’s never really “done”. You just keep at it.
