Psychological Safety: The first domino to fall
1-day Workshop
When organisations look back on their greatest failures, they often discover the same root cause. It wasn’t just a technical flaw, a missed procedure, or a gap in expertise. It was silence. Warnings went unspoken. Concerns were filtered. People knew something was wrong but did not feel able to say it. This is why psychological safety is the first domino to fall. Once it is gone, information dries up, groupthink takes hold, the ability to learn and adapt disappears and we lose agility and opportunities for innovation.
FidesOak®’s Psychological Safety; the first domino to fall workshop is a one-day, immersive experience designed to help leaders and teams understand, strengthen, and sustain this foundation of high performance.
Why psychological safety matters
Psychological safety is the shared belief that people can speak up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes without fear of humiliation or punishment. It is not about being “nice,” lowering standards, or avoiding difficult conversations. It is about creating the climate where candour is possible, curiosity is encouraged, and learning becomes part of the culture.
When psychological safety is present, mistakes are reported quickly, ideas for innovation flow freely, and collaboration improves across boundaries. When it is absent, errors are hidden, accountability weakens, and teams become blind to their own vulnerabilities.
What participants will experience
This highly interactive workshop blends insight, dialogue, and activity to bring the concept to life. Participants explore:
- The link between safety and performance: why psychological safety underpins agility, innovation, and resilience in every organisation.
- Historical lessons: how cultural drift and suppressed concerns across industries and eras have led to avoidable crises.
- The four zones of psychological safety: from apathy and anxiety through to the “learning zone,” where openness and accountability combine to drive growth.
- How we respond to mistakes: recognising the difference between preventable errors, complexity-driven mistakes, and intelligent failures that fuel innovation.
- Trust: using practical frameworks like the Trust Equation to build credibility, reliability, and empathy in day-to-day leadership, and how this differs from psychological safety.
- Habits that sustain safety: identifying “I will” and “I will not” behaviours that embed a culture where people feel free to speak and take responsibility.
Through scenarios, activities, and group reflection, participants connect these ideas to their own experiences and co-create practical steps to strengthen psychological safety in their teams.
Outcomes for organisations
By the end of the day, participants will be able to:
- Recognise the warning signs when psychological safety is eroding.
- Create environments where people can raise concerns and admit mistakes without fear.
- Differentiate between types of errors and respond constructively to foster learning.
- Build trust and accountability alongside openness, ensuring high standards are met.
- Encourage challenge, curiosity, and collaboration as daily habits.
At FidesOak®, we believe psychological safety is not a “soft” concept; it is a hard control for performance and resilience. It is the invisible architecture that allows organisations to innovate, adapt, and prevent failure. This workshop gives leaders and teams the understanding and tools to protect the first domino, because once psychological safety falls, everything else is at risk.
Interested in bringing this Workshop to your Organisation?
Contact us today to discuss delivery options and receive a tailored price for your team.
The Culture-Performance Connection
How your people lead, collaborate and approach each day is led by your organisation's culture and affects the work you do and how your teams perform.
FidesOak® can help you understand this connection clearly, with behavioural insight and practical tools to help protect and grow what works, while delivering lasting, sustainable change.
