The risk your team sees early is only useful if someone feels safe enough to name it.
High-performing teams are built on trust, open communication and the confidence for people to contribute ideas, ask questions, challenge assumptions and raise concerns before small issues become larger problems.
Psychological safety is the shared confidence that people can speak honestly, respectfully and constructively without fear of embarrassment or negative consequences. It gives teams permission to notice what others miss, ask the useful question, name the risk, test an idea and say, “I think there is a better way.”
In high-performing teams, psychological safety is part of how work gets done.
It supports faster learning, clearer communication and better decision-making, particularly in complex environments where teams are managing change, delivering projects or working across multiple stakeholders.
The 2025 APS Employee Census shows why this matters. While 80% of employees agreed that people in their workgroup are able to bring up problems and tough issues, 67% recorded a positive result on whether mistakes are handled without being held against people. That gap is important. It suggests many teams have the foundations for speaking up, but still need stronger conditions for learning, candour and improvement.
Psychological safety supports better performance
Psychological safety is sometimes mistaken for just “being nice”. It’s much more useful than that.
A psychologically safe team is not one where every idea is praised, every mistake is excused and every difficult conversation is avoided. It is a team where people can say what needs to be said while still being accountable for the quality of their work.
That distinction matters because when people feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to:
- share ideas and different perspectives
- ask questions when they need clarification
- identify risks before they become larger problems
- provide constructive feedback
- learn from mistakes and improve performance
These behaviours strengthen collaboration, improve decision-making and support better organisational outcomes.
The public sector data points in the same direction. In the 2025 APS Employee Census, 83% of employees agreed that one of their responsibilities is to continually look for new ways to improve how work is done. But only 51% agreed their agency recognises and supports the idea that failure is part of innovation.
That is the practical challenge.
Most organisations say they want innovation. Few make it safe enough for people to test, learn, adjust and occasionally be wrong.
Speaking up should be encouraged
Many workplace problems are not caused by people failing to notice.
They are caused by people noticing, then deciding it is safer to stay quiet.
This is one of the most expensive silences in organisational life.
Someone sees a risk. Someone has a better way to do the work. Someone knows the plan is unclear. Someone can see that a change is landing badly.
But they hesitate.
Not because they do not care. Often because they care very much, but have learned that speaking up can be awkward, unwelcome or career-limiting.
Over time, this reduces collaboration, limits innovation and weakens communication across teams.
It becomes particularly important during periods of change. The 2025 APS Employee Census found that only 52% of employees agreed that staff are consulted about change at work, while just 48% agreed that change is managed well in their agency.
The pattern is similar at state level. In the 2025 NSW People Matter Employee Survey, only 36% of employees agreed that change is managed well in their organisation, 56% agreed they have the opportunity to provide feedback on change processes that directly affect them, and 44% agreed senior executives listen to employees.
These are not abstract culture measures.
They tell us something very practical: change works better when people have a way to contribute before decisions become fixed, problems become personal, and resistance becomes entrenched.
Psychological safety helps remove these barriers by creating an environment where respectful discussion, different viewpoints and constructive challenge are encouraged.
Leadership plays a critical role
Psychological safety is shaped most strongly by what leaders reward, ignore and punish.
People watch these things carefully.
They notice what happens when someone raises a concern. They notice whether questions are welcomed or treated as resistance. They notice whether leaders admit mistakes or quietly move past them. They notice whether consultation is real, or theatre.
This is why small leadership behaviours matter.
Actively listening. Inviting different perspectives. Asking, “What are we missing?” Acknowledging mistakes. Responding constructively when someone raises a difficult issue.
None of these behaviours requires a grand culture transformation. But repeated consistently, they change what people believe is safe to say.
The 2025 APS Employee Census reinforces the role of direct managers. It found that 83% of employees agreed their supervisor invites a range of views, including those different to their own, and 80% agreed their supervisor can deliver difficult advice while maintaining relationships.
That is the useful version of psychological safety.
It does not remove accountability. It makes accountability easier, because issues can be discussed earlier, more honestly and with less defensiveness.
Building psychologically safe workplaces
Psychological safety can be developed.
It is not a personality trait. It is not a poster on the wall. It is not something achieved by telling people, “Please speak up.”
It requires practical skills, consistent behaviours and ongoing reinforcement across teams.
This is why the right expertise matters. Psychological safety sits at the intersection of leadership, communication, behaviour and workplace risk. Ashwick Education’s programs in this space are developed and delivered by practicing psychologists, bringing both professional depth and practical workplace experience to the learning. The focus is not on turning managers into clinicians. It is on helping leaders and teams understand the human dynamics that shape trust, communication, conflict and performance at work.
This includes the ability to hold respectful conversations, manage conflict constructively, give and receive feedback, involve people in change, and create team habits that make it normal to raise risks and improve the work.
Psychological safety is also increasingly relevant to broader expectations around psychological health and safety at work. The two are not identical, but they are connected. Safe Work Australia identifies psychosocial hazards such as poor support, poor organisational change management, poor organisational justice, and conflict or poor workplace relationships. Nationally, mental health conditions accounted for 12.0% of serious workers’ compensation claims in 2023–24p, or 17,600 serious claims. The median time lost from mental health condition serious claims in 2022–23 was 35.7 working weeks, and the median compensation paid was $67,400.
Regulators are paying attention. SafeWork NSW’s Psychological Health and Safety Strategy 2024–2026 states that psychological claims in NSW rose 30% between 2018–19 and 2022–23, compared with 11% for physical claims. The strategy also states that SafeWork NSW will increase regulatory action against high-risk and large businesses and government agencies, including Psychosocial WHS Checks for organisations with 200 or more workers.
Comcare has also identified psychosocial hazards as a regulatory priority, noting that prevention of harm from psychosocial hazards is a key focus for all WHS regulators.
The message is clear enough.
Psychological safety is no longer just a good idea for high-performing teams. It is part of the operating environment leaders are now expected to understand.
Ashwick Education helps public sector organisations build psychologically safe workplaces where people raise risks early, challenge ideas constructively and perform at their best.
Explore our leading Wellbeing & Psychosocial Safety programs or book an initial consultation to discuss what this could look like in your organisation.
References
- Australian Public Service Commission. 2025 APS Employee Census: APS overall results. https://www.apsc.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-09/2025%20APS%20Overall%20results.pdf
- NSW Public Service Commission. People Matter Employee Survey 2025: NSW Public Sector results. https://files.dcu.nsw.gov.au/dpc/pmes-2025/Public-Sector-Report/NSW-PMES-2025-NSW-Public-Sector-results.pdf
- Safe Work Australia. Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025. https://data.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/insights/key-whs-statistics-australia/latest-release
- SafeWork NSW. Psychological Health and Safety Strategy 2024–2026. https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1289646/safework-nsw-psychological-health-and-safety-strategy-2024-2026.pdf
- Comcare. Regulatory priorities. https://www.comcare.gov.au/scheme-legislation/whs-act/reg-priorities