If not, you need more psych safety. Tom Geraghty joins our roundtable to show you how to create workplace conditions where interpersonal risk, bold laughter, and a good cry are all fully possible.

Tom Geraghty spent the first four years of his life in silence. That experience of speaking disability led him to his now international work helping companies cultivate psychological safety, which is, as PsychSafety.com explains, “the belief, in a group, that we are safe to take interpersonal risks.”

Our intergenerational crew—Sheila the Gen Z, LaShone the Millennial, Emily the Xennial, and I the Xer—had plenty of questions about what makes interpersonal risk possible in the workplace. But we also have questions from you! Thanks to our listeners who shared psych-safety questions such as…

1. What do I do when my coworkers stop helping me on a project I love?

2. How do I talk about workflow with a colleague who does things really slowly?

3. What do I do when I can’t stop crying in a meeting?

4. Is psychological safety as important as physical safety?

5. What should you do when men assume women will take notes, bring snacks, and do other logistical tasks?

My big takeaway from our conversation with Tom is that psychological safety is not a merely negative value. It’s not just about avoiding harm or hurt. It’s about creating workplaces capable of sorrow and joy.

The crisis of employee disengagement today responds to workplace conditions in which people feel mute and work feels dead. Tom’s discussion of psychological safety helps us begin to restore the soundscape of a good working community. He’s a big idea guy, but he’s also like an at-your-elbow guide—as you’ll see from all the resources on his astonishingly well-resourced website.

You will love Tom’s ticklish sense of humor (and our roundtable is, as you know, prone to bust into laughter). But you will appreciate even more that Tom’s a good listener. He hears the questions behind the questions, which makes him a good work culture sherpa.

These are intense days we’re living through. Last night, my dreams were full, full of children in peril. And everybody’s days are full of news stories that are hard even to skim. We humans keep generating problems that, most days, it looks like we simply won’t ever solve. But here’s a thing you and I can do. We can turn our workplaces into what my colleague Debra Rienstra calls refugia, or hidden shelters for good life and work.

So, press play on this conversation and let Tom’s insights and our intergenerational exchange help you create a shelter for fully human tears, fully human joy.

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