Trust and psychological safety: An evidence review

Trust in other people’s behaviour and actions is crucial for healthy and sustainable organisations. Trust is important at all levels, from individual interactions to broader connections. It impacts teamwork, coordination, communication, and collaboration. 

"Psychological safety" refers to how confident we feel to take appropriate risks at work because of our relationships with colleagues and managers. In psychologically safe work environments, people tend to be less defensive and focus on accomplishing team goals and preventing problems, instead of just protecting themselves. They feel at ease offering original ideas, sharing different viewpoints, asking questions or admitting mistakes, knowing that they won’t face punishment or ridicule from their colleagues.

Both trust and psychological safety are linked to a wide range of positive outcomes. These include individual attitudes, team behaviours and environment, and overall performance. To improve trust and psychological safety people professionals and employers must understand how these concepts work. 

This evidence review summarises the body of research on trust and psychological safety. It examines their nature, why they are important, what drives them and how we can measure them.

The practice summary discusses the main research insights and practical recommendations.

The two scientific summaries describe our methodology and give technical information on the studies reviewed.