Reflection Exercise: Assessing and Enhancing Psychological Safety

Why This Matters

Psychological safety forms the foundation upon which mindful organisations are built. Without it, even the most sophisticated mindfulness practices remain superficial, unable to tap into the collective wisdom and creativity of your team. This reflection exercise is designed to help you assess the current state of psychological safety in your environment and identify specific actions to strengthen it.

Research consistently shows that psychologically safe environments lead to:

• Higher levels of engagement and innovation.
• More effective learning from mistakes and setbacks.
• Greater willingness to raise concerns before they become crises.
• Improved decision-making through diverse perspectives.
• Reduced burnout and increased well-being.

By taking time to reflect on psychological safety, you're investing in the foundation that allows mindfulness to flourish, as an individual practice and a collective capability.

Personal Assessment

Begin by reflecting on your own experience of psychological safety in your current work environment. Consider these questions.

How comfortable do you feel taking risks or making mistakes in your workplace?

• Can you recall a recent instance where you held back an idea or concern out of fear?
• What factors contributed to your hesitation?

How do you respond when others raise concerns or challenge your ideas?

• Do you find yourself becoming defensive or dismissive?
• Are you able to separate the idea from the person?

What signals might you be unintentionally sending that discourage open communication?

• Consider your verbal responses, body language, and patterns of interaction.
• How might others interpret your behaviour, regardless of your intentions?

When did you last see someone comfortably challenge a prevailing view in your organization?

• What made this possible?
• How was the challenge received?

Team and Organisational Assessment

Now expand your reflection to consider the broader environment.

What topics feel "off-limits" in your team or organisation?

• Are there issues everyone knows about but no one discusses?
• What makes these topics off limits for discussion? ?

How are mistakes and failures handled in your environment?

• Are they treated as learning opportunities or reasons for blame?
• Do people feel comfortable acknowledging when things go wrong?

Do your meeting structures enable all voices to be heard?

• Who speaks most often? Who rarely contributes?
• How are different perspectives solicited and received?

What formal and informal practices either support or undermine psychological safety?

• Consider how decisions are made, how feedback is given, and how conflicts are addressed.
• What rewards or consequences exist for speaking up or staying silent?

Identifying Opportunities for Growth

Based on your reflections, identify specific areas where psychological safety could be strengthened.

What personal practices could you adopt or strengthen?

• How might you model vulnerability and openness?
• How could you improve your listening and response patterns?
• What specific behaviours would demonstrate your commitment to psychological safety?

Team norms that could be established or reinforced.

• What shared agreements might help create safer communication?
• How could your team better separate ideas from people during discussions?
• What practices could help normalise learning from mistakes?

Structural changes that might support psychological safety.

• Are there meeting formats that could better support inclusive participation?
• What formal channels are available for raising concerns?
• How might decision-making processes be modified to incorporate diverse perspectives?

Commitment to Action

Select one specific change you commit to implementing in the next week to enhance psychological safety. Choose something concrete and observable that you can realistically accomplish. Examples might include:

• Practicing mindful listening in your next three meetings.
• Sharing a mistake you made and what you learned from it.
• Inviting input from someone who rarely speaks in meetings.
• Establishing a new team norm around constructive disagreement.
• Creating a structured process for raising concerns.

Ongoing Reflection

Psychological safety isn't established once and for all—it requires ongoing attention and care. Consider scheduling regular check-ins with yourself and your team to assess progress and identify new opportunities for growth. You might ask:

• What's working well in our efforts to create psychological safety?
• What challenges have we encountered?
• What have we learned that might inform our approach going forward?
• What's one thing we could do differently in the coming week to strengthen psychological safety?

By engaging in this reflection process regularly, you contribute to creating an environment where mindfulness can flourish—where people bring their full attention, awareness, and acceptance to their work and relationships.