Psychological safety is killing business performance

Sometimes, a smart-sounding concept goes way too far.

'Psychological safety' is one of those.

Driven by pop-psychology popularised by social media influencers, for the first time in the last decade, leaders latched onto the convenient idea that they could avoid discomfort by calling it a ‘lack of safety’.

There is nothing actually ‘unsafe’ about feeling uncomfortable.

Yet even at the highest levels of organisations, a version of this concept took hold.

And discomfort became unsafe.

The problem is, discomfort is also the home of growth.

Those creating a bold future know: it’s not comfortable.

It means facing risk, feeling the fear, and doing it anyway.

When you choose to lead, to do something that’s not been done before, it’s inherently at least slightly uncomfortable.

But you go forward anyway, holding space for the discomfort.

Then along comes this concept and leaders unknowingly enthusiastically adopt it to avoid the thing they struggle with the most in business - emotions.

Not only a ‘get out of jail free’ card for the trickiest part of business, but one that leaders could wear proudly on their sleeves.

We’re ‘taking care of our people’ in the name of ‘safety.’

No-one gets pushed too hard.

Emotions are kept in check.

Clarity is withheld in favour of comfort.

And it’s killing performance.

Why?

Because growth requires the truth.

And when comfort is favoured over clarity, the truth becomes institutionally filtered.

“I could never say that to them”

“I don’t want to ask too much of them”

“But they won’t like me if I’m honest”

So leaders hold back.

Soften the message. Avoid the edge. Stay just inside what feels safe.

But what they’re actually doing isn’t creating 'safety'.

They’re perpetuating avoidance.

And that has a cost:

Performance.

True psychological safety is not about keeping people comfortable.

It’s about creating the conditions where discomfort can be welcomed and handled - because growth depends on it.

And growth, in any meaningful sense, requires conversations most (even up to the CEO) would rather avoid.

When discomfort isn’t safe, truth gets filtered.

People say what they think you want to hear. They hide what they don’t want you to see. They dress up results instead of dealing with reality. They agree publicly - even when they know something won’t work.

On the surface, everything looks aligned.

Underneath, it isn’t.

And from there, the consequences compound.

Decisions get made on incomplete information. Problems are identified too late - when they’re harder to fix. The same issues repeat because no one names them directly.

You don’t get honesty.

You get agreement.

A passive-aggressive destroyer of potential.

Unmanaged Leadership is not about creating comfortable environments.

Nor is it about creating uncomfortable environments.

It's about creating conversations where the truth is always expressed, no matter how challenging it is to say, or hear, and how it feels afterwards.

Becuase an Unmanaged Leader is clear on how to hold space for their own and others emotions, without stopping the ship moving forward.

Emotion isn’t the problem.

It’s the signal.

It tells you where something matters. Where something is stuck. Where something needs to be said.

And if you can stay in that moment - long enough to understand it - you get access to something most businesses struggle to routinely reveal:

The unfiltered truth, from the very people who actually 'get' your business.

Access to the treasure chest of insight from the people working in your business about how to succeed.

The truth is where performance lives.

Most teams don’t lack capability.

They lack the ability to work through what gets uncomfortable.

This is the ultimate fail of management - and where the opportunity for leadership begins.

CEOs who have the emotional competence to stay in those moments experience the benefits of both true psychological safety (not the emotional avoidance version) and the performance that happens when the talent of the organisation is free to excel.

How have you experienced psychological safety and implementing it into your organisation? If you’re honest, has it helped ... or created more excuses?