Most teams do not have a performance problem.
They have a psychological safety problem.
That may sound like a bold statement, but it is one I keep seeing play out in organisations again and again. Leaders tell me they want more ownership, more accountability, more initiative, and more innovation from their teams. Yet what they are often facing is not a lack of capability or commitment. It is a culture where people have quietly learned that trying something new is risky.
When that happens, people stop speaking up. They keep their best thinking to themselves. They wait for certainty. They avoid stepping forward unless they know they cannot be blamed. And as that pattern takes hold, momentum starts to leak out of the business.
In this episode of the Impactful Teamwork Podcast, I explore the theme Reward the Try and why psychological safety is one of the most important ingredients in building elite teams. I also share practical ways leaders can create the conditions for more experimentation, faster learning, and better decision-making.
Why psychological safety matters more than ever
We are operating in a world where certainty is in short supply.
Markets shift quickly. Technology evolves daily. Customer expectations change fast. Leaders and teams are being asked to navigate complexity, change, and ambiguity at a pace many organisations were never designed for.
In that kind of environment, teams cannot afford to wait until everything is perfect before they act.
They need to be able to test ideas, learn quickly, adapt fast, and surface risks early. None of that happens if people are worried about being humiliated, blamed, or punished for getting something wrong.
That is why psychological safety matters so much.
Amy Edmondson defines psychological safety as a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. In practice, that means people feel able to say:
- I think we are missing something
- I do not understand
- I disagree
- I made a mistake
- Here is an idea we could test
Without fear of embarrassment, punishment, or social fallout.
And that matters because execution does not usually collapse when people stop caring. It collapses when people stop feeling safe enough to contribute honestly.
The hidden cost of a fear-based culture
Many businesses unknowingly reward certainty and punish experimentation.
They praise the polished win.
They celebrate flawless delivery.
They review mistakes with more energy than they review learning.
They expect people to take ownership, but react badly when things do not go to plan.
The result is predictable.
People become more cautious.
They avoid taking initiative.
They escalate decisions upwards.
They stay silent about concerns.
They wait to be told what is safe.
This does not always look dramatic from the outside. In fact, it can look like professionalism. Meetings remain calm. People appear compliant. There is no obvious conflict.
But underneath that surface, the team is slowing down.
Innovation drops.
Decision velocity weakens.
Learning cycles get longer.
Accountability rolls uphill.
What leaders often label as a performance issue is, in reality, a trust and safety issue.
What psychological safety is, and what it is not
Psychological safety is often misunderstood.
It is not about being overly nice.
It is not about lowering standards.
It is not about avoiding difficult conversations.
It is not about letting people off the hook.
In fact, done well, it is the opposite.
Psychological safety creates high standards and low fear.
It allows teams to challenge each other honestly, admit mistakes early, test ideas before they become expensive, and learn without blame. It is not a cosy culture concept. It is a learning and performance concept.
This distinction matters because some leaders worry that making it safe to try will mean people become careless. In my experience, the reverse is true. When people feel safe enough to be honest, they tend to show stronger judgement, better awareness, and more responsible behaviour.
Fear does not create excellence. It creates self-protection.
Why trying must become visible
One of the central ideas in this episode is simple but powerful:
If trying becomes dangerous, people stop moving.
That is why leaders need to reward not just outcomes, but intelligent attempts.
In many businesses, the effort that leads to learning remains invisible. A team member tries a small experiment, surfaces an early risk, or tests a new way of working, but because the outcome is not yet a visible success, it is overlooked.
That is a mistake.
Elite teams understand that visible wins are usually built on a series of smaller tests, imperfect attempts, and validated learning cycles. The more quickly a team can test and learn, the faster it can improve decision-making and build momentum.
That is why I encourage leaders to make trying visible. Celebrate the thoughtful experiment. Acknowledge the early warning. Recognise the person who raised the issue before it became expensive.
When you do that, you send a clear signal that progress matters more than posturing.
The Try Loop: a practical way to build momentum
In the episode, I introduce what I call the Try Loop, a simple way to help teams experiment safely and learn faster.
The three stages are:
1. Test
Start small.
Ask, what is the smallest version of this idea we can test within seven days? What guardrails do we need in place around time, budget, customer impact, compliance, or reputation?
This is critical because experimentation without boundaries is not freedom, it is chaos. Guardrails create safety. They give people the confidence to act without putting the wider business at unnecessary risk.
2. Reward
Review the attempt without blame.
Use questions like:
- What did we expect?
- What happened?
- What did we learn?
- What should we do next?
The goal is not to find fault. The goal is to turn action into learning. If the review process becomes a blame hunt, people will stop trying.
3. Apply
Use the learning.
This is the step many teams miss. If nothing changes after an experiment, people quickly conclude that trying is pointless. The learning must lead somewhere. Perhaps you scale the idea. Perhaps you tweak it. Perhaps you stop and move on. But you must show that learning has been captured and applied.
That is what creates trust in the process.
Why decision velocity depends on safety
One of the most important insights in this episode is the link between psychological safety and decision-making.
When people do not feel safe, decisions get pushed up the hierarchy. Team members escalate to managers. Managers escalate to senior leaders. Senior leaders discuss issues in meetings without resolving them. Before long, the business is clogged with delay.
This is not always because people lack judgement.
Often, they are simply trying to avoid being wrong.
That is why I encourage leaders to think about the decision line. Where are decisions being made in your business? Are they staying close to the work, or are they being pushed upwards because people fear the consequences of acting?
If decisions are repeatedly escalating, the question is not simply, “Why are people not taking ownership?”
The better question is, “What is making it feel unsafe for them to decide?”
That question gets much closer to the real issue.
How leaders create safety in practice
Creating psychological safety is not about grand gestures. It is built in small, repeated moments.
Leaders create it when they:
- Frame work as learning, not flawless execution
- Admit they may be missing something
- Replace “Who messed up?” with “What did we learn?”
- Respond well when someone raises a hard truth
- Thank people for surfacing risks early
- Show through tone and body language that challenge is welcome
This last point matters more than many people realise.
A leader can say all the right words, but if their tone, expression, or body language communicates irritation, sarcasm, or judgement, the team will trust the non-verbal signal over the verbal one every time.
Teams are always reading the room.
Key takeaways from the episode
Here are the biggest lessons from Reward the Try:
1. Most teams do not have a performance problem, they have a safety problem
If people are holding back, staying quiet, or waiting for certainty, the issue may be fear rather than capability.
2. Psychological safety is about learning and performance
It is not about lowering standards. It is about creating the conditions for honest contribution, faster learning, and better execution.
3. Small experiments build momentum
Teams do not need giant leaps. They need safe, bounded tests that produce learning quickly.
4. Guardrails create freedom
Clear boundaries help people act with confidence. Without them, teams either freeze or over-escalate.
5. Review without blame
If every experiment is followed by judgement or shame, people will stop trying. Learning language matters.
6. If nothing changes after the learning, trying dies
The organisation must apply the insight gained from experiments. Otherwise people lose trust in the process.
7. Leaders shape safety in micro-moments
A raised eyebrow, a dismissive tone, or a defensive response can shut down future contribution faster than leaders realise.
Final thought
If your team seems hesitant, overly careful, or slow to act, it may not be because they lack accountability or initiative.
They may simply be waiting for permission to be imperfect.
That is why rewarding the try matters.
Because businesses do not build momentum by making experimentation dangerous. They build momentum by making it safe to test, learn, and adapt.
And in a world where certainty is disappearing, that may be one of the most important leadership disciplines of all.
Show Notes
00:46 Reward the Try Intro
01:51 Psychological Safety Debt
04:02 Risk Scale Self Check
05:31 Healthy Curiosity Framework
06:31 Corporate Story Taking Risks
08:58 Small Experiments Guardrails
12:12 What Psychological Safety Means
14:00 Google Project Aristotle
15:51 Four Ways to Build Safety
20:00 The TRY Loop Method
22:14 Virgin Airlines Reward Example
24:15 Decision Line Empowerment
25:48 Body Language and Permission
27:00 7 Day Experiment Challenge
28:46 Wrap Up and Next Steps
