Psychological Safety Without Accountability Isn’t Safety; It’s Avoidance
Over the last few years, I have seen a significant increase in conversations around psychological safety. Organizations, schools, nonprofits, and community groups are all trying to understand how to create environments where people feel welcomed, heard, and valued.While I am encouraged by the growing interest, I have also noticed a concerning trend: psychological safety is often misunderstood.
Too often, psychological safety is framed as making sure no one feels uncomfortable, challenged, or criticized. In reality, that is not what psychological safety means, nor is it what the research supports. According to organizational psychologist Amy Edmondson, who pioneered much of the research on psychological safety, it is:
“A shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.”
In other words, psychological safety means people feel safe enough to ask questions, admit mistakes, offer ideas, provide feedback, and challenge assumptions without fear of humiliation, exclusion, or retaliation. Notice what is not included in that definition: comfort. Psychological safety is not the absence of discomfort. It is the confidence that discomfort will not result in punishment.
Safety Is Not the Same as Comfort
- Growth is uncomfortable.
- Learning is uncomfortable.
- Feedback is uncomfortable.
- Innovation is uncomfortable.
If organizations want creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement, they must create environments where people can engage in difficult conversations. That means people will occasionally feel challenged. They may have their assumptions questioned. They may learn they made a mistake.
Psychological safety is what allows those moments to become opportunities for growth rather than reasons for fear.
As Edmondson’s research demonstrates, the goal is not to eliminate risk. The goal is to make interpersonal risk possible.
The Four Stages of Psychological Safety
Leadership scholar Timothy R. Clark expands on this concept through his model of the Four Stages of Psychological Safety:
- Inclusion Safety – Feeling accepted and belonging to the group.
- Learner Safety – Feeling safe to ask questions, experiment, and make mistakes.
- Contributor Safety – Feeling trusted to contribute and make meaningful contributions.
- Challenger Safety – Feeling safe to question the status quo and challenge existing ideas.
The final stage is often overlooked. Challenger Safety requires accountability. If people are only safe when they agree, then psychological safety does not truly exist. A psychologically safe culture allows individuals to respectfully challenge ideas, policies, and practices without fear of retaliation. That challenge is not a threat to the organization it is often what helps the organization grow.
The Missing Conversation: Accountability
One of my concerns is that some organizations have embraced the language of psychological safety while avoiding the language of accountability. The two are not opposites. In fact, they depend on one another.
Accountability without psychological safety often creates fear. People become hesitant to speak up because mistakes are punished rather than discussed. On the other hand, psychological safety without accountability can create complacency. If there are no expectations, no responsibility, and no follow-through, then psychological safety becomes little more than a feel-good slogan. Healthy cultures require both. People need to know they can speak honestly. They also need to know that actions have consequences, commitments matter, and growth requires responsibility.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Creating psychological safety starts with self-reflection.
Ask yourself:
- How do I respond when someone disagrees with me?
- Do I become defensive when challenged?
- Do my actions align with the values I claim to hold?
- How do I react when someone points out a mistake?
- Am I creating opportunities for learning or simply expecting agreement?
Psychological safety is not measured by what we intend. It is measured by how people experience us.
Questions to Ask Your Team
If you lead others, consider asking:
- What concerns are people afraid to raise?
- Where do people feel unheard?
- What feedback have we received but not acted upon?
- What would help you feel more comfortable contributing ideas?
- What barriers prevent participation and collaboration?
The answers may reveal more about your culture than any mission statement ever could.
Why Systems Matter More Than Individual Effort
Perhaps the most important lesson I have learned is that psychological safety cannot be sustained through individual effort alone. Culture is systemic. I once had a conversation with a team member from a small local organization after a training I facilitated. They told me they had tried implementing many of the communication strategies and practices we discussed, but nothing seemed to change.
I asked a simple question:
“What is the culture of the organization like?”
Their response was straightforward.
Nothing had changed.
People still communicated the same way. There were no “stay interviews”. No meaningful feedback systems. No opportunities to evaluate growth. No structures that reinforced learning or collaboration.
The problem was not the individual. The problem was the system. That when a leader says “my doors are always open” but doesn’t feel welcome to walk in. That’s an effect of the system and leadership
One employee can model openness, inclusion, and curiosity. However, if leadership dismisses feedback, communication norms remain unchanged, and systems continue to reward silence, psychological safety will struggle to take root. Individual behavior matters. Systems determine whether those behaviors survive.
Moving Beyond Performative Safety
Organizations often ask, “How do we create psychological safety?”
I believe a better question is:
“Are we prepared to change the systems that prevent psychological safety from existing?”
Creating psychological safety is not about eliminating disagreement. It is not about avoiding difficult conversations. It is not about ensuring everyone feels comfortable all the time. It is about building trust. It is about creating environments where people can contribute, learn, challenge, and grow. Most importantly, it is about pairing psychological safety with accountability so that organizations do not simply talk about culture change; they actually create it.
Psychological safety without accountability becomes avoidance.
Accountability without psychological safety becomes punishment.
Workplace cultures that want to change will understand that both are necessary.
References
Edmondson, A. C. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383.
Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth.
Clark, T. R. (2020). The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety: Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation.