November 25-2025
By: Marisa
In recent years, this term is no longer just an academic jargon buried in journals. Since Google released the findings of Project Aristotle, which identified psychological safety as the number one factor determining team success, we have all become aware: this is the key to performance.
But to be honest, defining psychological safety is easy. It is the belief that we can speak openly, propose “crazy” ideas, and even admit failures without fear of being judged—or worse, fired.
The real question for us as HR professionals is this: How do we truly implement it amid performance pressures, office politics, and rigid organizational cultures?
Facing Reality: Why Our Culture Struggles to Be “Safe”
Let’s be honest. There are several major barriers in many organizations:
- The “Perfect Performance” Culture:
We celebrate heroes who always succeed. Employees who admit mistakes are often labeled as weak. - Managerial Fear:
Managers fear looking incompetent when their teams fail, so they tend to cover up or punish, instead of learning. - Rigid Feedback Processes:
Our performance review systems are often designed to judge at year-end, not facilitate continuous dialogue and learning.
And HR holds the key to dismantling these three barriers.
4 Concrete HR Actions: Turning Concept Into Practice
Our role is not only to organize workshops. We are the architects of systems and culture.
- Redefining the Manager’s Role: From Judge to Coach
Managers are the primary determinant of psychological safety at the team level. If a manager is unsafe, the team will be too.
- Training Focus:
Pause the hard-skill training. Redirect resources toward Leadership Vulnerability Training. Teach managers to openly acknowledge their own small mistakes. This gives the team permission to do the same. - Inquiry Method:
Train managers to respond to problems with questions like:- “What made this idea feel safe enough to try?”
- “What data did we gain from this failure?”
Instead of: - “Why did you fail?”
- Revolutionizing Performance Management (PM)
The PM systems we manage can either be the strongest tool or the destroyer of psychological safety.
- Separate Development Feedback From Salary Decisions:
When feedback is tied directly to bonuses, employees will only show their best sides. Implement monthly reviews focused purely on growth and learning, separate from annual compensation cycles. - Appreciate “Smart Failures”:
Create mechanisms (e.g., non-monetary monthly awards) to celebrate teams that take calculated risks and gain valuable lessons — even when the results are failures.
- Providing “Safe Channels” to Speak Up
People will not speak if they are afraid. HR must build infrastructure that guarantees anonymity and non-retaliation.
- Transparent (But Anonymous) Reporting Systems:
Ensure that channels for reporting ethical violations, bullying, or discrimination are truly confidential. Most importantly, follow up firmly and communicate the outcomes (without revealing the reporter’s identity) to build trust that “speaking up makes a difference.” - Culture of Early Intervention:
Train HRBPs to detect signs of psychological unsafety — for example, lack of discussion in meetings or passive silence when new ideas are introduced.
- Aligning Employee Experience (EX) With Well-being
Psychological safety is closely tied to how much the company cares for employees as humans, not merely resources.
- Prioritize Work-Life Integration:
HR must be the gatekeeper preventing burnout. When people are overwhelmed by unreasonable work hours, they won’t have the mental energy to take risks at work. Encourage clear boundaries and involve senior leaders as role models in maintaining balance.
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Let’s move together toward a greater Indonesia!
