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Psychological Safety Check
Check whether problems reach the people who own the work early, or stay hidden: three warning signs, how the last mistakes came to light, and an optional short survey.
This tool also runs as a stage in a playbook, which takes you through several tools in order:
- Delegate as your team grows Stage 4 of 6: will people raise problems early, or hide them? Start at stage 1
Not following the playbook?
When
Check 4 to 6 weeks after work was handed over, before anyone is judged on results. One team at a time.
Your notes never leave your browser
What you saw and the habits you agree stay on your computer and in your progress file. To write the diagnosis, only the answers and counts are sent to our server. How it works
What you see
Watch how bad news arrives, and what happens to a decision someone else made.
The last three mistakes
Think of the last three mistakes or problems on the team. How did each come to light?
A team survey (optional)Behavior tells you more, so the check works without one. A survey helps with a larger team, or to compare over time.
- Send the seven statements to everyone on the team, anonymously. Each person answers every statement from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). In Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, use a 1 to 7 scale question for each.
- When someone here makes a mistake, it tends to be held against them.
- People here can raise problems and difficult issues.
- People here are sometimes pushed aside for being different.
- It feels safe to try something here that might not work.
- It is hard to ask others here for help.
- Nobody here would deliberately undermine my work.
- My skills and strengths are valued and used here.
- Paste the answers below, one person per line, seven numbers in the order above. From a form's spreadsheet, select the seven answer columns and paste; a heading row or timestamp is ignored.
The tool works out each statement's average and the score. Statements 1, 3 and 5 are worded the other way and scored in reverse. The statements are our own wording on the themes of Amy Edmondson's seven-item measure. The answers stay on your computer.
The three warning signs
How the last three mistakes came to light
The survey
Since the last check
Checking again later? Add the next check to this file: it starts from these answers and habits, and the results compare the two.
Save your progress
Download your progress file to continue from this point any time, on any computer: choose it under "Coming back?" at the start of the tool. Each new file includes everything so far, including the earlier stages when they are connected, so keep the latest one. Your work stays in this browser only until you close it.
Not saved yet.
Take your results with you
A PDF of the warning signs, the habits agreed, the survey and the diagnosis.
About the tool
Why it exists
Find out whether bad news travels
Psychological safety is a team's shared belief that it is safe to speak up, ask questions and admit mistakes. Delegation fails quietly without it: a new owner who fears blame sits on a slipping deadline until the client calls.
This tool works on its own, and as stage 4 of our playbook for delegating as your team grows, 4 to 6 weeks after the handovers and before stage 5 starts judging people on results. For the background, see our guide to psychological safety.
The method
How the tool works
Behavior first. Three warning signs from the playbook: bad news arrives late, decisions are taken back, questions skip the owner. For each sign you see, agree the habit that replaces it.
The last three mistakes. On a safe team, the person who made a mistake raises it. A mistake found by a client or by accident was hidden, or not seen in time.
The survey, if you want it. Seven statements in our own words on the themes of Amy Edmondson's measure, three of them scored in reverse. Paste the answers, one person per line, and the tool works out the averages. Under 4 out of 7 reads low and 5.5 and over high: a rough guide, not a published standard.
The reading. Bad news arriving late or decisions taken back "often", two or more mistakes found by accident, or a survey under 4: problems are still hidden, so pause and don't set outcome goals yet. Checks can repeat, and the results compare the latest with the one before.
What leaves your computer. What you saw and the habits stay in your browser and your progress file. To write the diagnosis, the page sends our server only the answers and counts, and the server keeps nothing.