Tanmay Vora describes the “7 Deadly Sins of Psychological Safety” in this blogpost.
A must read for executives, managers, supervisors 
Arnold
7 Deadly Sins of Psychological Safety
7 Deadly Sins of Psychological Safety
Language
plays a crucial role in building a culture of safety. This post
outlines ways to communicate psychological safety (and seven deadly
sins)
Tanmay Vora
Language plays a critical role in fostering psychological safety.
Let me illustrate this by two
contrasting examples. In one instance, a project manager failed to
deliver on an agreed scope, and when senior leaders intervened, the
manager was harshly asked, “Who’s standing on the fault line? Whose
salary should we deduct for this?” This punitive language created a
hostile environment, discouraging openness and learning.
In a different scenario, when a member
of my product development team made an error affecting a client’s
production database, the leader approached it differently. Instead of
blaming, he reiterated his confidence in the team leader saying, “I know
we’ve made a mistake, but I’m confident you can quickly fix this before
it causes any financial damage.” This response boosted morale and led
to a quick resolution. Later, during the retrospective, he asked, “What
can we learn from this to prevent it from happening again?” This shift
from blame to learning fostered reflection and improvement.
I read Tom Geraghty’s newsletter on Psychological Safety
with great interest. In a latest edition, Tom outlines Seven deadly
sins of pshchological safety. I highly recommend his newsletter if you
are someone who is trying build a psychologically safe culture. (Full post here)
Learning to be mindful of our
language is key to maturing as leaders. Our words shape workplace
culture, either encouraging risk-taking and innovation or stifling
initiative.
Here are seven deadly sins of psychological safety in a visual form.
Complement this reading with my earlier post on “Conversations that build psychological safety” by Amy Edmondson.
