The Psychological Safety Lab 2.0
Google launched Project Aristotle in 2012, to find the common traits of their most successful teams. The number one characteristic was Psychological Safety, the shared feeling of safety to communicate and raise concerns among team members. The concept has become one of the most well-known goals for organisations and leaders across the world.
Our Lab is an experimental research hub for organisations who want to find the most effective ways of developing Psychological Safety. We’re proud to work together with Professors Amy Edmondson and Derrick Bransby from Harvard Business School
“If you change the nature and quality of the conversations in your team, the quality of your outcomes increases exponentially. Psychological safety is the core component to unlock this.”
- Professor Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School
Our research focus
We know Psychological Safety is beneficial for teams and organisations, but there is still so much to learn about how to develop it effectively. We’re here to design and evaluate team-based interventions with the highest standards of experimental research. Some of our completed and ongoing research includes:
Influencing the content of 1-2-1 meetings to improve Psychological Safety.
Improving the way managers respond to engagement survey feedback by fostering openness and trust.
Optimising team meetings during a period of transformation, with a focus on ethical behaviour and leadership.
Experimental methodology
MoreThanNow are pioneers of experimental research in large organisations like BT, Ericsson, Novartis and Microsoft, specifically drawing on a method of evaluation called the randomised controlled trial. The Psychological Safety Lab aims to evaluate strategies aiming to foster Psychological Safety in teams using this approach, creating simple and effective interventions and testing their impact piece by piece. In this way, we can solve organisational challenges while building our scientific understanding on how to help teams elevate their potential to succeed to the next level.
The team
Amy Edmondson is a Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School and is well-known for developing the concept of psychological safety. Amy has written many impactful management books, and we especially recommend taking a look at ‘The Fearless Organisation’, which gives an extensive and approachable summary of the wide literature on the topic. She was also awarded the number one spot in 2021 on the Thinkers50 list, a list of the world's most influential management thinkers.
Derrick Bransby is a doctoral student studying how we learn to lead and collaborate at work, with a specific focus on highly dynamic settings. His research explores the social properties and dynamics of teams performing complex, knowledge-intensive work and the role of the built environment in shaping collaborative and learning behaviour. Derrick works under the supervision and in collaboration with Amy.
Feeling safe enough to speak up, ask questions, and feel at home in a team is essential from many perspectives. With the rise of hybrid working, it is becoming ever more important to find effective tools of creating Psychological Safety in organizations. Join us to pioneer the experimental revolution!