Psychological safety is a team’s shared belief that you can speak up without being mocked or punished. You can ask a question that feels basic, suggest an idea that might fail, or admit you messed up, and still have a place on the team. Google studied 180 workplace teams and found this belief was the strongest predictor of which groups succeeded. When people expect humiliation, they hide mistakes until the damage is bigger. When they expect a fair hearing, problems get named while they are still small.

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