New requirements for the psychosocial work environment: Why dialogue matters more than ever
Eirin Eriksen Horvei
October 14, 2026
Psychological safety has become one of the most valuable factors for a successful organisation. As a leader, you play a crucial role in building an environment where employees feel safe to express themselves, share ideas and admit mistakes without fear of negative consequences. But how do you achieve this in practice?
Psychological safety is about creating a place where employees can be open and honest without fear of criticism or sanctions. Harvard professor Amy C. Edmondson has researched this and found that the most successful teams are those that dare to report mistakes, because this creates opportunities for learning and development. Edmondson's studies in the hospital sector show that the teams that felt safe enough to report the most mistakes created a culture of continuous improvement. This led to better performance and greater well-being.
Psychological safety reduces the fear of failure and encourages employees to contribute new thoughts and solutions. For you as a leader, this means that safety is crucial for promoting a learning culture and helping your team perform at its best. This can bring major benefits, such as lower turnover, reduced sickness absence and a better climate for collaboration, making the organisation more resilient and innovative.
Creating psychological safety requires a tailored approach. In different working environments, different measures may be crucial. If you lead an innovation or technology team, it may be crucial to encourage experimentation and make it clear that mistakes are part of learning. Regular meetings can be useful here, where your team can reflect on what has worked and what can be improved. This must happen without assigning blame, so that safety is strengthened and openness is encouraged.
In healthcare or other industries where mistakes can have serious consequences, it is crucial to create safe arenas for reporting mistakes, but also safe frameworks for practice and learning. By facilitating meetings where team members can discuss mistakes and challenges without fear, you give them the opportunity to learn and improve together.
In workplaces that depend on creativity, such as media or design, you can invite employees to share half-finished ideas, with a focus on the fact that all input has value. This can foster a culture where it is safe to explore, learn and grow.
As a leader, your own behaviour is crucial for building psychological safety. By being open about your own vulnerabilities and mistakes, you signal that it is acceptable not to always be right, and that learning is more important than being flawless. At the same time, it is important to highlight the value of good feedback – both positive and constructive – and to ensure that no input leads to negative consequences.
The employee appraisal is an effective tool for building psychological safety. It is a prepared meeting place where each employee can feel seen and heard, and you get the opportunity to listen to their experiences, needs and ambitions. Such a dialogue can create a deeper understanding and strengthen the relationship between you and your employees, and it is well suited to aligning expectations between the employee and the company.
To use the employee appraisal as a tool, you must create an arena where the employee dares to share honest feedback and suggest improvements. Make sure you communicate clearly that you are there to understand and provide support, and that feedback will be respected. Everyone must be allowed to have their own perception of their work situation, but that does not mean that every wish must be granted. A leader must look after the company's needs, and these will not always be in line with the employee's wishes. Then it is important to be clear and explain why the wish cannot be granted. This lays the foundation for a constructive dialogue that can contribute to greater well-being, more engagement and higher productivity. In addition, the employee appraisal gives you the opportunity to discover and address problems at an early stage, which can reduce the risk of burnout and conflicts.
Psychological safety has many positive effects for the organisation, both in the short and long term. Employees who feel safe sharing ideas and input show greater engagement and willingness to collaborate. This strengthens the team's performance and creates an organisational culture characterised by continuous learning and development.
It also leads to lower turnover and reduced sickness absence. Employees who thrive and feel safe are more loyal and less likely to leave the workplace. They will often feel greater ownership of their work, and this can contribute to increased engagement and motivation. A supportive culture also makes it easier for you as a leader to attract and retain employees – at a time when more and more jobseekers want employers who promote growth and development.
Although psychological safety has many benefits, there are also some pitfalls you should be aware of as a leader.
One of them is a lack of authenticity: leaders who talk about safety but don't show it in practice. They risk losing the trust of their employees. Another pitfall is superficial measures that do not address deeper cultural challenges, which can be counterproductive – and not least a "one-size-fits-all" approach that ignores individual needs. To succeed, leaders must adapt measures to different teams and needs, and follow them up regularly to ensure a lasting effect.
One of the most common misconceptions is believing that psychological safety means everyone should feel comfortable at all times. Safety means that employees dare to be open and honest, not that they should be shielded from constructive criticism. It is important to emphasise that mistakes should be used for learning, but that the organisation also has quality requirements.
In environments with high levels of safety, there can also be a risk of oversharing, where conversations take up too much time and weaken the focus on goals. Make sure to keep dialogues constructive and goal-oriented. For leaders, maintaining a safe culture can also become exhausting, especially if there are high expectations of availability and support. So set clear frameworks for feedback and give employees responsibility for self-leadership.
If employees are reluctant to share challenges, admit mistakes, come up with new ideas or challenge the status quo, it is a sign that safety is not present. Another red flag is if employees try to “overperform” in order to appear flawless, or stay “invisible” to avoid attention. This may be a sign of a culture of fear that hinders innovation and learning.
An organisation without psychological safety can also feel “stagnant”. Here, team members become less open to change and choose to stick with the status quo. The consequence will be that the organisation does not adapt to changes in its surroundings and framework conditions, and may risk becoming irrelevant, as Kodak did when digitalisation arrived. If you notice that employees avoid dialogue and withhold information, this may indicate that they feel it is not safe to contribute fully.
Psychological safety is more than just a modern leadership concept – it is a tool for creating an organisation that is robust, innovative and ready for the future. For you as a leader, it is crucial to create a safe workplace where employees can perform at their best, grow and thrive.
This will not only make the organisation better equipped to meet future challenges, but will also create a working environment that attracts and retains talented employees. Psychological safety is an investment in the organisation's future and a key to lasting success in an ever-changing working life.
• Arne Svendsen, 2021: «Hva er psykologisk trygghet og hvordan lykkes med det?» [What is psychological safety and how do you succeed with it?] (https://www.ledernytt.no/hva-er-psykologisk-trygghet-og-hvordan-lykkes-med-det.6382013-311239.html)
