I've been reflecting on psychological safety a lot lately, and today I want to invite you into that conversation with a question: when was the last time you saw something off at work but stayed silent?

In this episode of Leadership Insights, I explore why psychological safety – that sense of being able to speak up without fear – is the bedrock of great healthcare teams. Drawing from real research and my own experiences, we look at how silence costs lives, what it takes to build fearless organisations, and why it's on us as leaders to make it happen.

What You'll Discover

- The Cost of Silence: How everyday fears keep us quiet on concerns, ideas, or mistakes and why that's deadly in healthcare where lives are on the line.

- Building Fearless Teams: Practical ways to create environments where honesty, learning, and growth thrive, from modelling vulnerability to embedding it in your culture.

- Leadership as Safety-Net: Why prioritising psychological safety isn't soft - it's the smart move that boosts patient care, team morale, and your own fulfilment.

This episode is a call to action for every healthcare leader: study it, measure it, live it. Our patients deserve teams that feel safe to be brilliant. If this hits home, try one small act of openness this week and see what happens - I'd love to hear how it goes.

Episode Resources

Amy C. Edmondson’s The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth

Amy C. Edmondson’s Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy

The Fearless Organization

What People Get Wrong About Psychological Safety - Six misconceptions that have led organizations astray. by Amy C. Edmondson and Michaela J. Kerrissey

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Healthcare Leadership Conversations is produced by Urban Podcasts.