Fostering Psychological Safety For Better Team Collaboration

Collaboration is more important than ever in how we get things done. As business models and product problems get more complex, we need more specialised expertise from more areas to create the best solutions. Rarely will we be able to accomplish it all alone – we need others to help us to innovate and deliver. But the need for collaboration goes even deeper than this.

Humans are social creatures. Most of us would prefer to engage in high-quality and meaningful social interactions than to be alone all the time. Having social connections at work makes us more resilient and persistent at getting things done. People who are working on problems collaboratively are more likely to stick at it longer, be more engaged and suffer less fatigue than those who are asked to solve problems in isolation – unsurprisingly this leads to higher success.

But purely forcing people together on a problem is not enough. To solve problems together, there is an essential element needed for successful collaboration: psychological safety. An environment with a lack of psychological safety is one where individuals fear punishment, ridicule or humiliation for being themselves, voicing their opinions or highlighting concerns.

It seems obvious when you read the description why a lack of psychological safety would impede high-quality collaboration. If it is obvious we want psychological safety in our teams – then why don’t we already have it? The answer is that psychological safety doesn’t just happen, it must be actively nurtured within teams.

Psychological Safety Is Essential For Collaboration

Intuitively product teams know the importance of psychological safety. In a recent survey of product managers by Brainmates at Leading the Product, 87% of them strongly agreed that a psychologically safe environment fostered high performance in teams. But if we all agree on the importance of psychological safety, what is standing in the way?

In most work environments, inattention to psychosocial hazards within teams is the cause of low psychological safety. Psychosocial hazards are elements within the workplace environment that may lead to psychological harm usually by increasing levels of chronic stress in teams. The exact nature of the hazard will depend on the team and they span a full and diverse spectrum from high work demands to more obvious elements like harassment, violence or aggression (for a comprehensive list check out Safework Australia).

The problem in teams with low psychological safety is that these hazards are not being addressed. Often this comes from the fact that no one thinks it is their job to address them, that they can be difficult to address without leadership support or even a fear that they will be punished for voicing up. Ultimately, while every team member plays a part in creating a psychologically safe environment in teams, it is a leadership skillset and responsibility.

Increasing Psychological Safety As A Product Leader

Product leaders (whether you have the title or not) play a crucial role in modelling skills and ensuring accountability for team psychological safety. This leadership skillset includes:

• The active management of obvious psychosocial hazards in teams like bullying, harassment and exclusion, using or instituting organisational policies where applicable. While regular open conversations to aid in reporting are good, they are not enough on their own. Regular observation of team dynamics in everyday work rituals and under times of stress is a better way to observe these hazards ‘in the wild’. Leaders can call out behaviours in the room and should also follow up with team members afterwards.

• The active management of work load and capacity for individuals and teams. Where there is a lack of role clarity, high work demands (e.g., tight timelines) or lack of capability in teams, this will lead to a feeling of unfairness, low psychological safety and potentially burnout. This can be especially true for high performing individuals who shoulder higher burdens due to their capability. Addressing role clarity and ensuring team members all have the baseline capability to fulfill their roles can be addressed with things like role profiles and proactive development planning. Workload may be less systematic to manage, but scheduling work to ensure teams with high workload get sufficient rest between demanding activities is one option.

• Development & modelling of your emotional intelligence capabilities as a leader to develop others within teams. Behaviour that is deemed acceptable in teams is often observed from the top – the best way to show expected behaviours is to model them yourself. Reflecting on your communication skills – being humble, clear, honest, inclusive etc – and your emotional regulation as part of broader assessment or areas to improve emotional intelligence and create safety in teams is a great start.

• Harness opportunities to connect as humans, not just as work colleagues. To develop and nurture psychological safety, it is important to connect teams at a broader level than work. Giving time and importance to this alongside work demands is key.

Ultimately, teams that feel psychologically safe together – accepted for who they are and for voicing their opinions and concerns – increases engagement with work, resilience to challenges and innovative thinking. It is more important than ever as problems become more complex and harder to solve in isolation that skills are developed, correct behaviours are reinforced and teams are recognised for creating and maintaining high performing, psychologically safe and collaborative teams.

Click here if you would like to know more about our State of Product Research – State of Product in ANZ 2025 Research Summary