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Dear Faculty Relations: As a new leader in my unit, I want to cultivate psychological safety to encourage faculty to communicate more candidly, with me and with each other. What practices can I implement in my leadership? —Culture Cultivator

Dear Culture Cultivator: Researcher Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety as “a climate in which people feel free to express relevant thoughts and feelings without fear of being penalized”.¹ Let’s touch on a few themes from Edmondson’s new book² that you might consider alongside additional resources, such as .��

• Foster mutual trust and respect.
  Encourage a team environment where members feel able to give and receive feedback, speak up, and propose unformed ideas—not without discomfort but with courage and confidence that the interpersonal risks aren’t too great. For example, ask a team member to volunteer as a constructive critic for a team discussion to normalize giving and receiving feedback.
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• Approach mistakes and failures as opportunities to learn.
  Encourage team members to share mistakes and failures when they occur. Consider including a standing item in your 1:1 agendas to explicitly debrief both what is going well and what needs attention. Create communication norms for when things go wrong. Demonstrate and build team members’ trust that you’ll bring support, curiosity, intentionality, and a collaborative spirit to constructively analyze errors and failures, and to consider how to move together toward better outcomes.
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• Lead by example.
  Model the value of being approachable, receptive, and respectful, even when receiving difficult news or engaging in challenging conversations. Can you practice explicitly asking for time when you need to pause to regulate your emotions? Can you invite colleagues to also adopt this practice? Be humble in noting your limitations, your uncertainty, and when you lack knowledge or answers. Invite others to offer input, ideas, and feedback that is grounded in their experience, expertise, and unique perspectives.

Psychological safety supports engagement, communication, experimentation and innovation, productive conflict, learning from errors, and accountability. Cultivating a team culture characterized by psychological safety is an opportunity to support each person’s capacity to contribute and thrive.��

^{1, 2} Edmondson, A. (2026). . John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Written by Merinda McLure, Director of Faculty & Academic Leadership Development, Office of Faculty Affairs, and Professor and Health & Human Sciences Librarian, University Libraries

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