HBR Guide to Being a Great Boss

CHAPTER 6

High-Performing Teams Need Psychological Safety

by Laura Delizonna

“There’s no team without trust,” says Paul Santagata, head of industry at Google. He knows the results of the tech giant’s massive two-year study on team performance, which revealed that the highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychological safety, the belief that you won’t be punished when you make a mistake.¹ Studies show that psychological safety allows for moderate risk-taking, speaking your mind, creativity, and sticking your neck out without fear of having it cut off—just the types of behavior that lead to market breakthroughs.

Ancient evolutionary adaptations explain why psychological safety is both fragile and vital to success in uncertain, interdependent ...