Psychological Safety in Practice

"Every person has a voice worth hearing-one that can improve a team, solve a problem, or spark a breakthrough. Whether they share it depends on the environment around them. Psychological Safety in Practice is an evidence-based, practical guide to creating that environment. Every leader should read and re-read this book." * Zach Mercurio, Ph.D., Author of The Power of Mattering and The Invisible Leader *
"How do we build psychological safety in practice? This book answers that question with five powerful foundations: mattering, clarity, voice, connection, and learning. Helen Sanderson offers leaders and managers from every sector practical guidance for bringing these foundations to life in their teams. The result is a clear, actionable path to creating workplaces where people feel valued, heard, connected, and able to learn - the conditions needed for psychological safety to thrive and endure." * Jane Dutton, Professor Emerita, University of Michigan *
"Leaders in health and social care face an urgent need for practical, wise, and courageous ways forward. The task before them is to co-create, with those they lead, the safe, compassionate and high-quality care cultures that staff and communities long for. This clear, compelling and inspiring book provides exactly the insight and guidance they seek." * Michael West CBE, Senior Visiting Fellow, The King's Fund; Emeritus Professor, Lancaster University *
"Helen Sanderson has a superpower of making the abstract accessible and practical. This book is a treasure trove of practices, principles and real-life examples that will transform how team leaders and HR professionals approach day-to-day work and organizational design." * Lisa Gill, Host of the Leadermorphosis podcast; listed on the Thinkers50 Radar 2020 for her work with self-managing teams *
"This is a wonderfully practical guide written by someone who has actually done the work. It's the book I'd hand to someone on their first day in HR, and one that people thirty years in will still get something out of." * Jade Garratt, Co-Founder, Psych Safety *
"The greatest missed opportunity in healthcare is improving teamwork through psychological safety. Helen distils practical approaches that enable teams to thrive. She brings together proven methods and shows how they can be integrated into the realities of healthcare. The principles in this book could transform both the experience of working in the NHS and the care patients receive. If applied, the impact would be nothing short of revolutionary." * Dr Ben Allen, GP Partner, Birley Health Centre; Medical Director for Physical Health and Neurodiversity, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust *
"Helen Sanderson is a leading expert on psychological safety, helping organizations create cultures where people feel valued, speak openly, learn from mistakes and perform at their best." * Henry Stewart, Founder, Happy *
"For the People profession, psychological safety isn't another leadership trend, it's the foundation upon which healthy organizational cultures are built. It enables honest conversations, encourages innovation, strengthens inclusion and helps teams learn together rather than simply perform together. Helen has produced a practical and accessible guide that gives leaders the confidence to turn psychological safety from an aspiration into an everyday reality. This is a book I believe People professionals will return to time and again." * Kaine Davidson Chartered FCIPD, Director of Organisational Development and Deputy Chief People Officer, Midlands Partnership University Foundation Trust *
"Helen has done the work herself, building self-managing teams in social care, one of the hardest sectors there is. This book distils what made that possible into practices any team can apply. It's grounded in real experience and refreshingly free of jargon: the rare management book written by someone who has actually built what she's writing about." * Joost Minnaar, Co-founder, Corporate Rebels *
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This book provides some essential structure for taking forward an approach to workforce support and development that both recognizes the 'how to', and crucially the 'why'.
This book is underpinned by critical values that Helen has embodied throughout her working life around fairness, person centredness and a commitment towards supporting the workforce in a way that ensures that they have their strengths and assets recognized, allowing them to provide care and support that mirrors those values.

" * Professor Vic Rayner OBE, Chief Executive, National Care Forum *
"Psychological safety is at the heart of a healthy organizational culture. It enables honesty and transparency, creating an environment where learning from mistakes underpins organizational safety, quality and improvement for the benefit of everyone. This thought-provoking book provides simple and pragmatic tools and approaches to embed meaningful and impactful change, whatever our role." * Rachael Dodgson, Chief Executive, Dimensions *
"An invaluable, practical guide for those leading social care teams, with real-world tools that can be applied immediately. A book care leaders will return to again and again to build the psychological safety and trust that strong teams and truly person-centred practice depend on." * Ruth Owen OBE, Chief Executive, Leonard Cheshire *
"HR is more than my professional identity: It is my calling. And right now, our profession has a critical new calling: To champion psychological safety. While others focus strictly on numbers, capital, and performance charts, HR helps answer the questions people have, like "Do I matter here?" and "Can I influence things for the better?" Without psychological safety, work is just blank spaces and lines. HR provides the crayons so people can colour in their contributions smartly, sincerely and safely." * Perry Timms, Founder and Chief Energy Officer, PTHR *
"Working across boundaries and whole systems, I've seen how vital psychological safety is. Helen's book gives us all the practical tools and practices that we need to grow the trust, clarity and confidence that is needed for us to collaborate and deliver together, with pace, depth and scale, even in times of uncertainty and change." * Eve Holt, Head of Policy and Implementation, Greater Manchester Combined Authority *
"Helen achieves the perfect blend of practical action, lived experience and evidence-based insight. As you read, your first impulse will be to put the habits and approaches into practice in your day-to-day work; your second will be to share the book with peers and colleagues. An accessible and compelling guide, it demonstrates how psychological safety can be intentionally cultivated to enhance wellbeing, unlock learning, accelerate improvement and support high-performing teams." * Dr Claire Kenwood, Director for Collaborative Working, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust *
"A highly insightful and practical guide for leaders seeking to create psychologically safe work environments where people can contribute, and thrive. I am leading differently as a result of the lessons I have taken from this work." * Kate Terroni, Chief Executive, United Response *
"If you lead a team in health and social care, in any form and at any level, from senior support workers to chief execs, you NEED to read this book. Helen has condensed her significant wisdom into helping us understand how and why we all matter. Psychological Safety in Practice helps us learn how to practically do this important work, as well as what we need to forget and stop doing too. We can do better - you matter and your safety matters too." * James Watson-O'Neill OBE, Chief Executive, Sense *
"Psychological safety is fundamental to learning, innovation and relational practice, and the foundation of high-performing teams. However, many leaders struggle to turn the concept into everyday practice. Helen Sanderson bridges that gap brilliantly with this practical, accessible, and evidence-informed guide, full of tools and techniques that leaders can use immediately to help teams speak up, learn, challenge constructively and perform at their best. Rich in practical examples and grounded in real-world experience, it shows how creating the conditions for honest conversation and constructive challenge enables both people and organizations to thrive." * Ian Wake, Executive Director of Adult Social Services, Norfolk County Council *
"This is a book that is built on heavyweight evidence, yet is so open and practical in the way it reads. For all of my colleagues who work in health and care across the globe - if you lead a team, an organization or a system there is loads to read, reflect on and practice in this brilliant book." * Dr Bob Klaber, Consultant Paediatrician and Director of Strategy, Research and Innovation, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust; Convenor of the conversation for kindness in health and care *
"Recruitment and retention in social care has never been more important. Helen Sanderson has long been a proponent of creating healthy happy teams. Her exploration of the importance of psychological safety in the workplace will resonate with leaders who want to enable an environment where people can thrive, speaking up and being heard when it matters. Helen's book is grounded in practice throughout. Beginning by outlining the Five Foundations of psychological safety Helen suggests numerous useful and practical tips that anyone can deploy. I will certainly be recommending it to colleagues in social care and beyond." * Sara Livadeas, Social Care Works Ltd *
"We know psychological safety matters. The challenge is turning that belief into everyday practice. This book gives team leaders in health and social care practical ways to do exactly that. Accessible, thoughtful and immediately useful." * Ian McCreath, Director, Think Local Act Personal *
"Psychological safety is fundamental to delivering compassionate, high-quality public services. It is built in everyday conversations and behaviours and shapes working cultures that promote flourishing. Helen Sanderson has a rare ability to turn important ideas into practical action, and this book will give leaders at all levels the confidence and tools to build cultures where people feel safe to speak up, learn and thrive. I hope it finds its way into the hands of leaders across health and social care." * Jess McGregor, Executive Director, Adults and Health, Camden Council *
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The difference has been profound. We have built stronger relationships, made better decisions and created an environment where people feel more confident to contribute, challenge and learn together. That does not happen because you read about psychological safety; it happens because you commit to living it.
This book brings together the evidence, practical tools and real-world experience to help leaders make that shift.

" * Rachel Peacock, Chief Executive, Making Space *
"This book is very timely in the swell of relational approaches to public service, where psychological safety is a core ingredient for effective, more humanity-orientated interaction in the workplace. Those feeling a compulsion to have better work experiences will find this book instructive. Helen writes from a perspective steeped in experience of building healthy teams, so it is deeply thoughtful, practical and full of real-world guidance for all managers and leaders especially in health and social care, though with universal sensibility." * Professor Hannah Hasslegreves, Professor of Public Service Reform, Director of Policy Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU) at Manchester Metropolitan University *
"I heard the UK Prime Minister asked to say where the money was coming from for a big reform to social care. He accepted the challenge, and noted the large variation in supports and services allocated the same resources. Helen's body of work tackles this squarely, focussed on how to support all of us to offer and be the best we can be in our work. When we feel safe our focus and energy increases exponentially. These are the workplaces that do more and better than the others. Key to Helen's contributions are understanding and acceptance of real world context and practical rigour in finding solutions. In Psychological Safety in Practice she has done it again!" * Martin Routledge, Convenor, Social Care Future *