29 Jun 2026
E30 - Mmm... psych safety? Mishandlings, misinterpretations and myths
To close out season one, it's just the two of us and we've saved one of the most important topics in people leadership for last.
Psychological safety has had a decade of utter hype. Google gave it a TED Talk moment, a lot of HR decks have slides on it and yet most organisations are measuring it wrong, talking about it wrong, and - crucially - doing it wrong. In this episode Dean goes full geek-mode on the evidence while Sue does what she does best: Holds the mirror up to what's actually happening in real organisations right now. What came out of that conversation was something we think every HR leader, people manager, and CEO needs to sit with for a long time. The 3 Ms: the Myths/Misinterpretations, and the Mishandlings - and why the gap between knowing and doing remains one of the most expensive problems in organisational life.
We get into the origin story - why a 1999 hospital study and Google's four-year Aristotle Project both point to the same ugly truth about silence in teams.
Five common myths - from "it means being nice to each other" to "there's no hard business case" - dismantled with the evidence to back it up.
The mishandlings - what organisations do in the name of psychological safety that actively makes things worse: The survey with no follow-up, the training programme that changes nothing, the resilience initiative that blames the individual for a systemic problem, and the CEO whose face in a Q&A killed candour for six months.
The three things any manager can do on Monday morning.
Referenced in this episode
Amy Edmondson - The Fearless Organization (Wiley, 2018) and her foundational 1999 research on psychological safety in medical teams.
Google Project Aristotle (2012–2015) - the study of 180 teams that found psychological safety was the single biggest predictor of team effectiveness.
Tim Clark - The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety (Berrett-Koehler, 2020).
Brené Brown - research on shame, vulnerability, and why people hide mistakes rather than own them.
Morrison & Milliken (2000) - organisational silence research: People don't stay quiet because they have nothing to say.
Erik de Haan and Craig Johnson - leadership shadow and the long reach of how leaders show up.
The Pratfall Effect - and why Joanna Lumley is, apparently, the perfect case study.
Previous HR Unfiltered episodes mentioned:
Tw@ts with Carolyn Hobdey
Conversation with a CEO (Luke McKeever)
Confidence with Kirsty
The HR Archaeology episode
WTF is Commercial HR episode and
Last week's episode with Tom.
Season 2 lined up and ready to go!
Thirty episodes in season 1 all showcasing a LOT of opinions but ZERO wallowing. We came to say the things that don't get said in most companies, and we're far from done yet. Season 2 is coming back bigger, bolder, and with even less patience for HR and leadership mediocrity. Watch this space - and if you've been listening since the beginning, thank you BIG TIME. This progressively unfiltered community is exactly why we're going to keep going.
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Connect with Dean: LinkedInConnect with Sue: LinkedIn
If you need HR advice or intelligent people and culture solutions, check out www.sopeople.co.uk.
And don't forget, if you're a leader or people professional looking for experienced psychotherapy and/or coaching, get in touch with Dean.
