Psychological Safety in Practice

Psychological safety is often talked about as a culture, a value, or a mindset, but for employees, it’s experienced much more simply:

Do I feel safe enough to speak, ask, disagree, and make mistakes without consequences?

That safety is built from everyday leadership behaviour. My time in the Royal Marines taught me a lot about leadership – unfortunately, it’s the few bad examples that stand out as the clearest lessons.

In winter, stress tolerance is lower and energy is more fragile, so small leader habits send powerful nervous-system signals. Below are five practical habits leaders can use to reduce stress signals and strengthen psychological safety without adding complexity or losing authority.

1. Make Expectations Explicit (Silence Is Stressful)

Unclear expectations are one of the biggest hidden stressors at work. There was a study I read years ago that said if a team is getting things wrong, it likely isn’t the team, it’s the direction (or lack of) from the leader.

When priorities aren’t stated clearly, people fill the gaps with worry:

-Is this urgent?

Am I doing the right thing?

Will this change tomorrow?

Leaders build safety by:

- naming priorities explicitly

- explaining what “good enough” looks like

- distinguishing between urgent and important

- flagging what can wait

Clarity calms the nervous system while ambiguity keeps it on edge.

2. Predictability Beats Positivity

Many leaders try to create safety by being encouraging or upbeat.

Obviously positivity is important – it’s infectious, but predictability helps more.

Psychological safety increases when people know:

- when decisions are made

- how feedback will be given

- what happens when mistakes occur

- how workloads are reviewed

You don’t need to be endlessly optimistic, but you need to be consistent.

Consistency reduces threat and threat reduction increases trust.

3. Regulate Yourself Before Regulating Others

Stress is contagious, especially from leaders. I remember giving this advice to many hopeful Young Officers in the Royal Marines. Pause before you enter a brief, visualise the leader you want to be, then go be that. Act like it and in time, it’ll become natural.

Tone of voice, pacing, facial expression, and responsiveness all send signals long before words are processed.

Leaders who:

- pause before responding

- slow their speech under pressure

- acknowledge tension instead of ignoring it

- model recovery between tasks

- create teams that stay calmer under load.

You don’t have to be calm all the time, but if you do slip from it, repair quickly.

4. Normalise Not Knowing (Without Losing Credibility)

One of the fastest ways to kill psychological safety is pretending certainty where none exists. This is a huge bug-bear of mine. Integrity is massive – it underpins everything. It’s very easy to see when someone is bluffing – you just feel it.

High-safety leaders are comfortable saying:

“I don’t know yet.”

“Here’s what we know so far.”

“This might change.”

“I got that wrong.”

This doesn’t weaken authority at all, it just strengthens trust. If you don’t work to find an answer or fail to bring clarity in time, that’s a different matter.

People feel safer when reality is named honestly, rather than hidden behind confidence theatre.

5. Respond to Mistakes With Curiosity, Not Correction

How leaders respond to mistakes determines whether people speak up next time.

A threat-based response like “why did you do that?” triggers:

- defensiveness

- silence

- risk avoidance

A curiosity-based response such as “help me understand what happened” creates:

- learning

- shared ownership

- better future decisions

The behaviour you reward, whether that’s consciously or unconsciously, becomes the culture.

Does This Matters More in January? I think it always matters, but January is a pressure point:

- energy is still rebuilding

- expectations are rising

- clarity is often missing

- tolerance for stress is lower

In this environment, leadership behaviour has an outsized impact. Psychological safety isn’t about being soft. I’m aware of the ‘soft’ connotations of the word ‘safety’.

It’s about reducing unnecessary threat, so people can think clearly, speak early, and perform well.

The Takeaway

Psychological safety isn’t created by slogans or surveys.

It’s created by leaders who:

- communicate clearly

- act predictably

- regulate themselves

- tell the truth

- stay curious under pressure

These habits don’t just make people feel better, it’s not about ‘just’ wellness, they make teams smarter, faster, and more resilient.