And they trust each other because every member of the team upholds high standards of psychological safety.

Psychological safety is the belief that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish colleagues for speaking up.

Psychological safety is how teams develop personal bonds of trust, and bonds of trust lead to collaboration and commitment.

Psychological safety helps establish team norms for a supportive, respectful, and open environment. If one of those team norms includes speaking up when there’s a problem, then you’re on your way to truly maximizing the power of a team.

For a team to truly trust each other, each member must feel that he/she can take risks and be vulnerable in front of the other members of the team. I believe that the best way to gauge the level of psychological safety in a team is to look for the following:

1. Do members of your team feel safe in openly admitting they made a mistake?

2. Do members of your team feel safe in voicing their objections?

3. Do members of your team feel safe in questioning the status quo?

4. Do members of your team feel safe asking for support from each other?

I have found that teams who develop truly high levels of psychological safety are pushing each other to be better and challenge the status quo. They are also teaming up to get more deals, more revenue and better results. And they are having a LOT more fun.