There’s No Psych Safety Without Emotional Safety

Fresh Ideas from Us

Many of us started our careers believing that talking about emotions at work wasn't safe or helpful. Multiple factors have played into that—something we often refer to as perceptual filters. Those are things like our upbringing and aspects of identity like gender, race, and nationality.

Whatever the reason, many of us don’t even know healthy ways to surface our emotions in life, let alone at work! Even those of us who know we’re naturally more attuned to emotions (within ourselves and others) have been told our sensitivity is a liability rather than an asset. 

We have been talking about emotions at work for years now—and encouraging others to do so, too. (Gratitude for all the people who've helped us get here.)

Emotional intelligence, transparency, and vulnerability are what we want from our leaders and colleagues—and lots of evidence supports how these things lead to productive and inclusive cultures. When we encounter daily tensions and conflicts in organizations, part of the solution almost always involves emotional vulnerability. Something is unsaid, somebody is misunderstood, people are hurt and don't talk about it, apologies haven't yet happened. 

Without emotional safety and emotional intelligence, how can we expect to foster the deeper psychological safety that 1) our teams deserve and 2) boost true innovation? 

Consider the role of emotions in your leadership. Acknowledge others' feelings and thank them for revealing a bit of themselves to you. If this goes against all of your training or conditioning, we get it. We've been there. But the shift is well worth it... so start small and keep going.

Quote from Somebody Else

“Instead of resisting any emotion, the best way to dispel it is to enter it fully, embrace it, and see through your resistance.”

—Deepak Chopra

Probing Question

How might you begin practices to foster healthy emotional candor on your teams?