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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.1 Studies show that psychological safety allows for taking moderate risks, speaking your mind, being creative, 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 environments.2 The brain processes a provocation by a boss, ...
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