Latest / New Manager Conversations with Fexingo: First 90 Days, Managing Former Peers, and Leadership Basics / How New Managers Can Build Psychological Safety on Their Team
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this concept that's been getting a lot of attention in leadership circles lately — psychological safety. And a lot of new managers I talk to think it means 'being nice' or 'avoiding conflict.' Luna: Right, like a kind of corporate hug-fest. But that's not what the research says at all. Lucas: Exactly. The real definition comes from Harvard's Amy Edmondson — she's been studying this for decades. Psychological safety is the belief that you won't be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. It's not about comfort; it's about candor. Luna: And it's especially critical for new managers because you're setting the tone from day one. If you don't model it, your team probably won't feel safe either. Lucas: Let me give you a concrete case. A friend of mine — let's call her Priya — got promoted to engineering manager at a mid-size SaaS company about six months ago. She inherited a team of eight developers who were technically strong but really quiet in meetings. No one pushed back on deadlines. No one admitted when they were stuck. Luna: Classic low psychological safety. Everyone's afraid to look incompetent. Lucas: Exactly. So Priya did something pretty bold. She started a weekly ritual she called 'failure share.' Every Friday, for the last fifteen minutes of the team meeting, she would share one mistake she made that week — something she learned from. Not a huge catastrophe, but something real, like a code review she missed or a sprint estimate she botched. Luna: And she went first. That's key — she didn't ask them to do it, she modeled the behavior. Lucas: Yeah. At first the team was silent. But after a couple of weeks, other people started chiming in. One developer admitted he'd been struggling with a particular API and had wasted two days before asking for help. Another shared that she'd deleted a migration script by accident and had to rebuild it. Luna: And the interesting thing is, once the team started being more open about mistakes, their velocity actually went up. Because they weren't hiding problems anymore. Lucas: That's exactly what Edmondson's research found. In her study of hospital teams, the teams with higher psychological safety actually reported more errors — but they were also better performers. Because they were catching and fixing problems instead of covering them up. Luna: So for a new manager, the first step is really about your own vulnerability. You have to be willing to say 'I don't know' or 'I made a mistake' without losing authority. In fact, it can build authority. Lucas: Right. And there's specific language that helps. Instead of 'Don't be afraid to speak up' — which is vague — try 'I really want to hear your honest take on this, even if it's critical.' Or 'If something feels off, please flag it early so we can fix it together.' Luna: You're also setting a norm around learning over blaming. That shift from 'who did this?' to 'what can we learn from this?'. Lucas: Exactly. And that's not just soft stuff — it has real impact on retention and innovation. A Gallup study found that teams with high psychological safety have 27% less turnover and are 3.5 times more likely to be high-performing. Luna: But there's a common pitfall. Some new managers think psychological safety means lowering standards. Like, 'Oh, we're a safe team so we can just be nice and never challenge each other.' That's not safety, that's complacency. Lucas: That's a really important point. Edmondson talks about the difference between psychological safety and accountability. You need both. High safety, high accountability — that's the sweet spot where you get learning and performance. Low safety, high accountability is just a blame culture. High safety, low accountability is a cushy club that doesn't produce results. Luna: So the manager has to hold people to high standards while also creating space for honest conversation. It's a balance. Lucas: And honestly, if today's conversation was worth a coffee to you, that's the link — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's the smallest ask, and it really helps us keep this show ad-free and focused on practical advice for people like you. Luna: Yeah, we hear from listeners all the time who say these episodes helped them through a tough transition. That feedback is what keeps us going, and a coffee's worth goes a long way. Lucas: So back to psychological safety — one practical thing you can do this week is to start a meeting with a 'low-point' check-in. Ask everyone to share one low point from the past week. You go first with something real but not traumatic. It normalizes imperfection. Luna: That's a great idea. Or even a 'what's one thing you want to get better at this week?' framing. It signals that growth is expected. Lucas: And remember, it's not a one-and-done. Building safety takes consistent behavior over weeks and months. Every time you get defensive or shut down an idea, you set progress back. Every time you thank someone for a tough question, you move forward. Luna: So the takeaway for new managers: start with your own vulnerability, use specific language that invites candor, and hold the balance between safety and standards. Lucas: That's it for this episode. Next time, we'll talk about how to give feedback to a peer who's also a friend — a tricky one. Thanks for listening.