Repairing Psychological Safety After It’s Been Broken

Nov 20

eremy had been preparing for days. The team was stuck on a recurring issue, and he’d come up with a new approach that he believed could make a real difference. Midway through the meeting, he shared it.

He didn’t expect applause, but he also didn’t expect what came next.

The team lead cut him off:
“We’ve already been over this. That’s not going to work. Stick to what’s already on the table.”

The room went quiet. Jeremy felt the heat rise in his face. He nodded and didn’t say much else for the rest of the meeting.

In the days that followed, he noticed a shift—not just in himself, but in others. People stopped offering ideas. Questions that used to come freely were kept to themselves. Something had changed.

What Jeremy experienced was a rupture in psychological safety. And unfortunately, it’s not uncommon.

What is psychological safety—and why it matters

Psychological safety, a concept defined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, is the belief that you can speak up, offer ideas, raise concerns, or admit mistakes without fear of being embarrassed, rejected, or penalized. It’s not about being agreeable—it’s about feeling safe to be real.

When psychological safety is present, people are more likely to engage, collaborate, and take healthy risks. In both research and practice, it’s been linked to stronger team performance, faster learning, and higher innovation. It also plays a critical role in relationships outside of work—in families, friendships, and communities.

But psychological safety is fragile. It takes time to build, and only a moment to break. Knowing how to repair it matters—because even the best teams, leaders, and cultures will face moments of rupture.

Why a rupture can hit so hard

When safety breaks down, the nervous system doesn’t simply register it as “awkward” or “tense.” It interprets it as a threat. The amygdala, our internal alarm system, goes on high alert. Neuroscience research shows that social threats like rejection or humiliation activate the same brain regions as physical pain.

In that state, our ability to think clearly, collaborate, and engage meaningfully narrows. Even small breaches can trigger this response.

Here are a few examples of what that might look like:

For a middle manager: You raise a concern during a leadership offsite and are told, “Let’s not waste time on hypotheticals.” You don’t raise concerns again.
For a junior employee: You suggest a new approach in a team meeting, and it’s dismissed mid-sentence. A week later, someone else brings up a similar idea and is praised. You learn to stay quiet.
In a high-stakes project review: A senior leader singles someone out for a mistake in front of stakeholders. The rest of the team takes note—and starts avoiding risk.

These moments can have a lasting impact. Not because people are overly sensitive, but because their sense of safety has been compromised.

How to repair psychological safety when it’s been broken

Repairing psychological safety doesn’t come from a perfectly worded apology or a well-crafted Slack message. It comes from a willingness to take responsibility, listen deeply, and show—through consistent behavior—that trust still matters.

Here’s a four-part framework that can guide that process:

1. Acknowledge the harm

Start by naming what happened and recognizing its impact. Avoid deflecting or justifying. A simple statement like, “I see how my response shut down the conversation. That wasn’t fair to you,” creates space for healing. This isn’t about intent—it’s about validating the other person’s experience.

2. Take responsibility

Move beyond the apology. Own the effect of your actions, not just your motives. Saying, “I didn’t realize how that landed, but I take full responsibility,” shows accountability and self-awareness. It signals that you’re paying attention—not just to what was said, but to how it made others feel.

3. Commit to change

Words matter—but behavior matters more. Demonstrate change through action. Pause before responding in tense conversations. Invite others into the discussion. Practice humility when mistakes happen. Research shows that psychological safety is rebuilt not through grand gestures, but through small, consistent moments of care.

4. Rebuild through continued dialogue

Trust returns slowly. It’s rebuilt in quiet, often invisible ways: honest check-ins, thoughtful follow-through, openness to feedback. Keep the lines of communication open. Ask how things are going. Stay receptive even when the answers are hard to hear.

There’s no fixed timeline for repair

Everyone brings their own history and sensitivities to the table. What feels minor to one person can feel significant to another. Repairing psychological safety isn’t about getting back to “normal”—it’s about building something more durable and more aware.

Declaring a space “safe” doesn’t make it so. Safety is felt through consistency. It’s earned through actions that prove people will be treated with respect, even when things are messy or uncomfortable.

If someone has gone quiet, if meetings feel tense, or if openness has been replaced by hesitation—it’s worth asking, What might still need attention?

Back to Jeremy

What would’ve happened if Jeremy’s idea had been met with curiosity instead of dismissal?

What if the team lead had paused and said, “That’s not the direction we’ve taken before—but tell us more about what you’re thinking”?

That small shift could’ve kept the door open. Jeremy might have stayed engaged. Others might have felt more encouraged to contribute. That’s what psychological safety protects—not perfection, but possibility.

And when safety breaks, as it sometimes will, the most important thing we can do is respond with humility, care, and the willingness to repair.

References

Edmondson, Amy C., & Lei, Zhike. (2014). Psychological Safety: The History, Renaissance, and Future of an Interpersonal Construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, 23–43.
Harvard Business School Faculty Research
Frazier, Melissa L., Fainshmidt, Stav, Klinger, Ryan L., Pezeshkan, Amir, & Vracheva, Violetta. (2017). Psychological Safety: A Meta-Analytic Review and Extension. Human Resource Management Review, 27(3), 521–535.
ScienceDirect
BrainWorks Institute. (2024). The Neuroscience Behind Psychological Safety at Work.
BrainWorks Institute