Flip the Script E2: What does psychological safety really mean?

My guests today are Laura Delizonna, Stanford instructor and executive coach, and Daniela Landherr, Head of Talent Engagement at Google in EMEA.

In this episode we discuss a question that has been preying on mind for quite a while: Why is psychological safety so attractive in theory and yet so rare in practice?

Topics we explore:

- Why psychological safety is both crucial and fragile and how it’s the answer to an evolutionary-based question: “Are you for me or are you against me?” 

- The shift we need to make from putting it all on the leader to create psychological safety to “we can all make it or break it” — as individuals we have more power than we think we do to create the feeling of “I feel safe with you” through every interaction we have

- How do we actually know how psychologically safe our team is and why as a leader you’re likely the worst judge of that. What are the clues that signal high and low psychological safety? 

- “The obligation to dissent” as key to psychological safety and how we can approach conflict as a call for curiosity and an opportunity to co-create a new solution vs. a zero-sum game. 

You can read Laura’s famous Harvard Business Review article about why high-performing teams need psychological safety and how to create it here; and can gather more insights from her website. Check out Daniela’s website, a real source of inspiration and empowerment.