Psychological Safety Myths: What’s Holding Your Team Back?

Psychological safety isn’t about being endlessly agreeable or shielding people from challenge. It’s about creating an environment where people feel confident to speak up, take risks, and be honest—without fear of humiliation or punishment. The myths surrounding psychological safety are holding many teams back from real progress and open collaboration. Let’s unpack why.

Myth 1: “Psychological safety means being nice all the time.”

This is one of the most common misconceptions. Leaders often mistake psychological safety for politeness, assuming it’s all about kindness and harmony. While empathy and respect are important, psychological safety isn’t about avoiding discomfort—it’s about embracing productive discomfort.

Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, who coined the term, describes psychological safety as “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.” It’s not about removing tension from conversations, but making sure that constructive tension can exist without fear.

Teams don’t grow by avoiding difficult conversations—they grow by being able to have them openly, respectfully, and honestly.

Myth 2: “If we have psychological safety, no one can challenge each other.”

Actually, it’s the opposite. When psychological safety is in place, challenging ideas becomes easier, not harder. The goal is not to agree on everything—it’s to create a space where people can disagree productively.

Think about it: when people feel psychologically safe, they’re more likely to raise red flags, question assumptions, or propose alternative solutions. That’s a huge driver of innovation and decision-making.

In Google’s well-known Project Aristotle, psychological safety emerged as the number one factor in high-performing teams. When people feel safe, they’re more engaged, more open to feedback, and more likely to hold each other accountable.

Read more on Google’s research here.

Myth 3: “It’s just an HR initiative.”

Psychological safety is sometimes viewed as a “soft” HR concept that lives in workshops or engagement surveys. In reality, it’s a business-critical capability that should be owned by leaders at every level.

When people don’t feel safe to speak up, mistakes get hidden, ideas go unshared, and trust erodes. That’s not just a people issue—it’s a performance one. According to a 2021 McKinsey report, organisations with high psychological safety are more likely to report strong team performance and lower employee burnout.

The behaviours that build psychological safety—like active listening, vulnerability, and follow-through—are leadership behaviours. And they need to be modelled consistently, not just talked about once a year.

Myth 4: “You can’t have high performance and psychological safety.”

There’s a lingering belief that psychological safety makes people too comfortable—that it leads to complacency. But the research shows the opposite. Psychological safety creates the conditions for high standards and high expectations to actually work.

When teams have clarity of expectations and feel safe to try, fail, and iterate, performance improves. Leaders can challenge directly because they’ve created trust. Accountability and psychological safety aren’t in conflict—they’re partners.

As Edmondson puts it, the best environments are those that are both psychologically safe and performance-driven. It’s not one or the other—it’s both.

What Does Psychological Safety Really Look Like in Action?

At Steps, we bring psychological safety to life through our Steps to Change methodology and drama-based learning experiences. It’s not about slides or lectures—it’s about helping people see and feel what safe, courageous conversations actually look like.

It’s in those “aha” moments—those real, emotional responses—that the real behavioural change begins. If you’re interested in how we make that happen, have a look at our blog on why psychological safety matters.

So—What’s Holding Your Team Back?

Psychological safety myths can create blind spots in even the most well-intentioned cultures. But once you see them, you can start to dismantle them—and build something stronger in their place.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in fostering psychological safety at work?
We’d love to hear from you – get in touch with us at Steps to see how we can support your organisation to create a psychologically safe environment.