Training programmes don’t fail because people don’t understand the content. Rather, they fail because once people return to work, it doesn’t feel safe to do anything differently. For L&D teams, this creates a familiar challenge. Training programmes often require significant investment but, without the right supporting conditions, struggle to translate into demonstrable business outcomes. To overcome this, workplace training must be supported by a culture of psychological safety that provides the practical conditions for learning transfer and behaviour change.
When people feel safe to ask questions, admit uncertainty and make mistakes, they’re more likely to try out new skills. This means we see real-world impact, long-term behaviour change and positive Return on Investment (ROI). Psychological safety is not a ‘nice-to-have’ or a cultural add-on. It’s a foundational element of workplace training that achieves real-world results.
In this blog, we’ll explore:
- What is Psychological Safety?
- How Does Psychological Safety Support Training Effectiveness and ROI?
- How Can We Create a Culture of Psychological Safety that Drives Learning Transfer and Long-Term Behaviour Change?
What is Psychological Safety?
We’ve been talking about the concept of psychological safety since the 1950s but it became popularised in the 1990s when Amy Edmondson coined the term in her research linking it to team performance. She describes psychological safety as “a climate in which people are comfortable expressing and being themselves [… and where] they feel comfortable sharing concerns and mistakes without fear of embarrassment or retribution.” (The Fearless Organisation)
Psychological safety does not mean being ‘nice’, avoiding conflict, removing accountability or prioritising comfort over results. Instead, it means creating an environment in which people can ask questions, share ideas, admit uncertainty and take risks without worrying that they’ll be judged or publicly embarrassed if they get something wrong. This makes it essential for effective learning to take place.
How Does Psychological Safety Support Training Effectiveness and ROI?
For training programmes to demonstrate ROI, they must deliver real-world impact that translates into quantifiable results. For a lot of training initiatives, this impact is demonstrated through behaviour change. However, behaviour change requires practice, and practice involves an element of risk. What if you make a mistake? What if you mess up? What if you lose face in front of your colleagues? We all know that we need to practice new skills. However, unless we feel safe to do so at work, learning is likely to remain theoretical.
The key to workplace learning that transfers out of the training environment and into the real-world is psychological safety. There are four stages of psychological safety that contribute to training effectiveness.
1. Inclusion safety
At this stage, people ask “Is it safe to be here?”. They size up potential social threats and decide whether they feel included, valued and respected within the group. Without inclusion safety, people are likely to be more focused on avoiding potential ‘dangers’ like making a mistake or being called out by a colleague than on learning, making effective training almost impossible.
2. Learner safety
At this stage, people ask “Is it safe to not know?”. They begin to ask questions, admit uncertainties and feel safe to make small mistakes. Learner safety is the difference between someone who attends a training workshop and someone who engages with it, asking questions and figuring out how the content applies to their role.
3. Contributor safety
At this stage, people ask, “Is it safe to try this out?”. They begin to feel confident sharing their own ideas and experiences, without worrying that they will be being ignored or shut down. Contributor safety is what moves learning beyond theory into practice, driving learning transfer by creating an environment in which people feel safe to try out new skills and behaviours.
4. Challenger safety
At this stage, people ask “Is it safe to question and improve?”. This is where people feel safe to question processes, challenge the status quo and suggest improvements to ideas and ways of working. Rather than waiting to be told where they can apply what they have learned, challenger safety supports active adoption and long-term behaviour change – resulting in real-world impact and positive ROI.
By working to create an organisational culture of psychological safety, L&D teams can transform training programmes that transfer knowledge into programmes that achieve long-term behaviour change and demonstrable ROI.
How Can We Create a Culture of Psychological Safety that Drives Learning and Long-Term Behaviour Change?
Creating a culture that supports inclusion, learner, contributor and challenger safety requires action at all levels of an organisation. L&D teams play an important role in making this happen, highlighting opportunities and providing training and support.
1. Embed psychologically safe practices into training design and delivery
When it comes to learning, psychological safety extends far beyond the training environment – but it has to start somewhere. L&D teams play a powerful role in influencing how people feel about the learning process and how comfortable they are to ask questions, express concerns and transfer learning into practice.
To embed psychologically safe practices into training design and delivery:
- When delivering training, create inclusion safety by establishing shared expectations and setting a warm, welcoming tone right from the start.
- Ensure people feel safe to ask questions and make mistakes by designing workshops and training programmes that progress from low-risk to higher-risk learning. For example, start with less exposing questions and build up to activities that may require a higher degree of trust.
- Design-in opportunities for contribution and practice, so people can experiment in a safe environment before transferring learning into the workplace.
- Invest in training that supports facilitators to deliver effective workplace learning and create psychological safety across in-person and virtual environments.
2. Equip managers to support learning back in the workplace
Even the most well-designed training programme will struggle to deliver impact if the workplace doesn’t support practice and application. By helping managers understand the role they play in this, we can help them to create an environment that supports learning, practice and long-term behaviour change.
To equip managers to support learning back in the workplace:
- Share ROI metrics from similar training programmes with managers to demonstrate the real-world impact and increase buy-in. Encourage managers to explicitly share their support, setting a base level of psychological safety around the training process.
- Include learners’ managers in training pre-comms, so they understand what is expected of their team members and can answer any questions or concerns.
- Create Manager Support Kits with reminders, key takeaways and coaching questions so managers can actively support practice and transfer into the workplace.
- Prioritise training that equips managers to support workplace learning and create challenger safety, for example around growth learning mindset, innovation or future-ready teams.
3. Support managers to create a culture of psychological safety
Managers play a vital role in creating a general culture of psychological safety. This directly impacts learning transfer and long-term behaviour change, influencing how likely people are to take risks and apply new behaviours at work.
To support managers to create a culture of psychological safety:
- Include inclusive leadership in manager training programmes, making inclusion safety a foundational element of management and leadership in your organisation.
- Build a shared sense of learner safety by encouraging a continuous feedback culture, where managers and team members can ask questions, share ideas and work through mistakes together.
- Support managers to build psychological safety through everyday behaviours, moving it from management theory into everyday practice.
- Provide opportunities for coaching and practice to help managers build the skills they need within a model psychologically safe environment.
4. Ensure senior leaders model behaviours
Psychological safety is reinforced when people see behaviours being modelled at all levels of the organisation. When senior leaders ask questions, acknowledge gaps in their knowledge and reflect openly on their own learning, it sends a powerful message about what is acceptable, valued and encouraged.
To provide opportunities for senior leaders to do this:
- Share relevant ROI metrics to demonstrate business outcomes and help senior leaders understand why their engagement matters. As with managers, encourage them to be vocal in their support, ensuring people at all levels of the organisation feel safe and supported to engage with the learning process.
- Involve senior leaders in learning initiatives as participants, not just sponsors, and encourage them to share their own questions, experiences and ideas.
- Build contributor safety by working with senior leaders to ensure performance measures encourage and reward learning and experimentation, not perfection.
- Encourage senior leaders to find opportunities to share their own learning journey outside of the training environment. For example, they might approach a coaching conversation by sharing a similar mistake they made and what it taught them.
Next Steps
By finding ways to create psychological safety both within and beyond the learning environment, L&D teams can boost the effectiveness of workplace training and better demonstrate ROI through learning transfer and behaviour change.
If you’d like to find out more about how we can support you with this, check out our workshop on building psychological safety or get in touch! We are here to help.
