Three concrete ways leaders can foster psychological safety in meetings

Early in my career, I worked with two very different leaders within the same company. Under the first, team meetings were silent affairs where new ideas were often met with criticism.

We stopped contributing.

When I moved teams, my new manager actively encouraged input and acknowledged every suggestion, even the imperfect ones. Our productivity and innovation skyrocketed.

This experience taught me the power of psychological safety. That feeling that you won't be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, or concerns.

Here are three concrete ways leaders can foster psychological safety in meetings:

1. Practice "Yes, and..." thinking.

Replace "That won't work because..." with "Yes, and we could address that challenge by..." This simple language shift acknowledges contributions while building on ideas rather than shutting them down.

2. Create equal airtime.

Actively notice who's speaking and who isn't. Try techniques like round-robin input or asking quieter team members directly: "Alyzah, we haven't heard your perspective yet. What are your thoughts?"

3. Normalize vulnerability by modeling it.

Share your own mistakes and what you learned. When leaders say "I was wrong" or "I don't know, let's figure it out together," it gives everyone permission to be imperfect.

AA✨