Is psychological safety the overlooked key to organisational success? That’s the question Binna Kandola asks in his new book, and the answer – after you’ve finished reading this book – is a resounding yes.
While the term is not new, psychological safety is increasingly recognised as the key to high performing, diverse organisations.
Kandola explains that psychological safety is more than a team’s shared belief that it’s safe to speak up without negative retribution. He frames it as a multi-layer concept that ‘exists at the intersection of individual experiences, team interactions, and organisational culture’.
What this means is that – to assess and cultivate psychological safety – we need to look at organisational inclusion practices, goal setting practices, organisational communications and structure, as well as leader and team behaviours.
For practitioners like us, that’s an important opportunity to critically analyse far more than just inclusion practices – to connect the dots in a bigger organisational picture.
Why we loved this book:
- Kandola applies six dimensions (Leader, Team, Inclusion, Goals, Policies, Structure) that contribute to a safe and inclusive work environment (using a socio-technical systems model) with practical checklists.
- It articulates how in-group members in teams may receive consistent affirmation and feel valued, but members of out-groups can experience a very different reality – because of the micro-incivilities they experience – shared in an elegantly named chapter, Psychological Safety: But for Who?
- There’s lots of case studies, including one from Australia of PwC’s tax scandal, highlighting where the psychological safety to speak up with concerns and call out unethical behaviours has been missing.
- There’s an excellent summary of why we should all pay attention to psychological safety at work – for individuals, it enhances mental health and wellbeing and supports our growth and learning; for teams, it enhances collaboration and innovation; for organisations, it boosts business performance and profitability.
Professor Binna Kandola will share lots of practical insights in our next ‘In conversation with’ event, in February 2026. Please register at info@diversityparners.com.au for more information.
