6. Why Psychological Safety Is the Cornerstone of Belonging

By Michele Manocchi

R&D Consultant | EDI Strategist | SDG + ESG Integration Advocate

You can assemble a beautifully diverse team, implement well-crafted inclusion policies, and make public commitments to equity and social impact. However, without psychological safety, genuine belonging cannot take hold.

Psychological safety is the shared belief that you can speak up, take risks, and be yourself without fear of punishment or embarrassment. In a workplace where people don’t feel safe, they remain silent, withdraw, stop contributing fully, and ultimately leave if they can.

The costs of psychologically unsafe workplaces are higher than many realize. There's a well-known story among HR professionals: The boss says to the HR manager, “Fire that guy: he asked for a raise!” The HR manager responds, “Then, we should give him the raise.” The boss, confused, asks why, and the HR manager explains, “Looking for someone else, advertising the position, managing all the selection, recruiting, and onboarding processes, plus losing all the experience he will take away by leaving, will cost much more than the raise.”

But costs aren't the only factors. Performance, commitment, engagement, and willingness to contribute to the organization’s vision and mission are also at risk. When psychological safety is low, the impacts spread. Employees conceal parts of their identity to “fit in”; innovation is stifled by fear of being wrong; equity-deserving staff are overburdened with emotional labour; and engagement declines, turnover rises, and trust lessens.

This is especially true for folks who already face barriers: racialized workers, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ employees, Indigenous professionals, and newcomers to Canada — to name a few.

If you're not hearing these voices in your meetings, don’t assume everything is alright. Often, silence serves as a survival tactic in unsafe environments.

Of course, creating and maintaining psychological safety presents its challenges. A certain level of discomfort is necessary to enable:

• Naming bias in hiring or promotion decisions

• Disagreeing with a manager’s approach

• Asking for accommodation

• Offering critical feedback from lived experience

• Challenging the “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset

But alongside discomfort, these acts also foster innovation, accountability, and progress.

In brief, psychological safety means safeguarding individuals from relational and professional harm when they take meaningful risks.

Leadership plays a crucial role in supporting these processes. You need leaders who encourage constructive feedback and do not punish dissent; teams that value diverse ways of thinking, knowing, and expressing; managers who acknowledge mistakes and use them as opportunities for growth rather than hiding them; and an overall organizational culture where identity and difference are appreciated as assets, not obstacles.

Emotional intelligence, cultural humility, and openness to change are three essential skills that leaders and managers should cultivate to create a psychologically safe environment necessary for transformative discussions.

Furthermore, if your organization is implementing the ESG framework, fostering psychological safety will have a positive effect on your public reporting, as it directly impacts social metrics like employee engagement, retention, and equity outcomes, as well as governance metrics such as leadership accountability and ethical culture.

And for those interested in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, psychological safety demonstrates your commitment to SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

In short, psychological safety is not just a “nice-to-have.” It is an organizational asset — and a key indicator of a company’s EDI maturity.

Let’s Talk

What signals does your workplace send about what’s safe to discuss — and what isn’t?

How are you encouraging (or unintentionally hindering) psychological safety within your team?

What would change if courageous conversations were promoted rather than avoided?

I’d love to hear your experiences and insights. Drop a comment or reach out directly to explore how your organization can embed psychological safety as a foundation for belonging — not just for some, but for everyone.

Book a free 30-minute meeting, and we can discuss your needs.