ScaleX™ Insider Podcast

Psychological safety is the cornerstone of effective, innovative teams. Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, explains why psychological safety is one of the strongest predictors of team performance and learning. In this episode, Amy shares practical strategies for leaders to create safe, high-performing environments where teams can speak up, share ideas, and take thoughtful risks.
If your team avoids risk or only delivers "green updates," they may be performing but not innovating. Amy reveals how fostering psychological safety allows teams to take the interpersonal risks necessary to solve complex problems and drive results.
Psychological Safety Takes Off the Brakes
Amy explains that psychological safety is not about comfort or being "nice"—it's about enabling your team to lean in, take risks, and speak up. Think of it as taking the handbrake off: your team already has motivation and skills to perform, but psychological safety ensures they aren't holding themselves back.
Context Matters: Defining Team Performance
Team performance is not one-size-fits-all:
R&D teams may take years to see the impact of their work.

Customer service teams can measure performance weekly through client feedback.

Internal teams serve other departments or "internal customers" and require context-specific metrics.

Psychological safety allows teams to consistently push toward success metrics, whatever the context.
Psychological Safety Is (and Isn't)
It is: Permission to share work-relevant questions, concerns, dissenting views, and ideas without fear of personal repercussions.

It is not: Lowering standards, allowing irrelevant off-topic comments, avoiding conflict, or guaranteeing all ideas will succeed.

High performance standards alongside high psychological safety are both necessary for learning, innovation, and real candour.
Dealing with Failure: The Red Is the Gem
Amy emphasises that not all failures are equal:
Preventable failures: Avoidable mistakes requiring vigilance, training, and speaking up.

Smart/Thoughtful failures: The undesired results of calculated risk-taking, experimentation, and innovation.

Leaders should create an environment where team members feel safe to share these "reds" and learn from them. Recognise intelligent failures as opportunities for growth, and encourage teams to run ideas by peers to minimise unnecessary risk.
Your Action Plan
Audit your team: Are people holding back? Are only the "green" updates being shared?

Establish psychological safety: Encourage candid, work-relevant communication.

Align on performance: Clearly define success metrics for your team context.

Combine safety with high standards: Challenge ideas while protecting people.

Model self-awareness: Communicate with purpose, clarity, and empathy to maintain constructive engagement.

ABOUT AMY EDMONDSON: 
Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. She studies how human interactions drive successful enterprises and has authored seven books and over 60 scholarly papers. Amy is a sought-after keynote speaker with a global following, helping leaders and organisations embrace learning, psychological safety, and innovation.
CONNECT WITH AMY:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycedmondson/
Books: The Fearless Organization, Teaming, Right Kind of Wrong, and more
SCALEX AND SIMPLE SCALING:
Book: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10x Your Business ScaleX Elevate: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-elevate (for businesses under £2M revenue) ScaleX Accelerator: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-accelerator-programme(for businesses over £2M revenue) Website: https://simplescaling.com Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simple-scaling Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplescaling
ScaleX Insider is a 12-month journey for ambitious SME leaders combining strategy, mindset work, and peer support to break through revenue plateaus.
Podcast Host: Brendan McGurgan, Co-Founder Simple Scaling
#psychological safety #team performance #leadership #podcast

Psychological safety is essential for learning, innovation, and high-performing teams. Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, explains why creating psychologically safe environments enables teams to embrace both success and failure. In this episode, Amy shares strategies for leaders to foster learning cultures where "red updates"—mistakes, problems, and risks—become opportunities for growth.
If your team only reports green—good news, progress, and wins—you're likely missing critical insights. Amy highlights why leaders must actively encourage the "red" to unlock real learning, smarter experimentation, and sustainable growth.
Psychological Safety = Performance
Amy breaks down why psychological safety is one of the strongest predictors of team performance. Teams perform best when people feel safe to speak up, challenge assumptions, and share dissenting views. Without psychological safety, critical issues remain hidden until they escalate.
Smart Failures as Feedback
Not all failures are equal:
Preventable failures: Mistakes that should be avoided through vigilance, training, and established processes.

Intelligent failures: Unexpected results from thoughtful risks and experimentation in new territory.



The most successful individuals and organisations don't avoid failure—they fail more often, but in smart, productive ways. Psychological safety allows teams to treat failures as feedback rather than fear.
Creating a Culture That Learns
Amy shares actionable strategies for leaders to build learning cultures:
Make sharing "red" insights a positive experience.

Encourage teams to run hypotheses by colleagues before acting.

Celebrate learning from failure while distinguishing preventable mistakes from intelligent experiments.



Your Action Plan
Audit your team environment: Are you only hearing "green" updates?

Encourage reporting of "red"—problems, mistakes, and risks.

Respond positively to "red," making it safe to share.

Differentiate between preventable and intelligent failures.

Integrate thoughtful experimentation into daily work to drive innovation.

 
ABOUT AMY EDMONDSON: 
Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. She studies how human interactions drive successful enterprises and has authored seven books and over 60 scholarly papers. Amy is a sought-after keynote speaker with a global following, helping leaders and organisations embrace learning, psychological safety, and innovation.
 
CONNECT WITH AMY:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycedmondson/
Books: The Fearless Organization, Teaming, Right Kind of Wrong, and more
 
SCALEX AND SIMPLE SCALING:
Book: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10x Your Business ScaleX Elevate: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-elevate (for businesses under £2M revenue) ScaleX Accelerator: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-accelerator-programme(for businesses over £2M revenue) Website: https://simplescaling.com Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simple-scaling Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplescaling
ScaleX Insider is a 12-month journey for ambitious SME leaders combining strategy, mindset work, and peer support to break through revenue plateaus.
Podcast Host: Brendan McGurgan, Co-Founder Simple Scaling
 
#psychological safety #team performance #leadership #podcast

Psychological safety is one of the strongest predictors of team performance and organisational success. In this episode of ScaleX™ Insider, Brendan McGurgan is joined by Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, to explore how creating psychologically safe environments allows teams to speak up, share ideas, and take smart risks that drive innovation and learning.
Amy explains that psychological safety is not about comfort or being "nice" — it's about learning, candour, and taking interpersonal risks. When teams have clarity on performance goals and understand what success looks like in their context, psychological safety removes the brakes, enabling members to lean in, share critical feedback, and improve results.
Episode Highlights
Defining Performance in Context Amy breaks down how performance looks different for every team — whether R&D, customer service, or senior leadership. Success is always context-specific, but psychological safety consistently allows teams to meet the needs of their "customers," internal or external.
Psychological Safety ≠ Comfort Zone Amy emphasises that creating a safe environment is not about avoiding conflict, lowering standards, or allowing "anything goes." Instead, it provides permission for relevant, work-focused candour, allowing disagreement and critical thinking to flourish without fear of retribution.
Taking the Handbrake Off Using a vivid metaphor, Amy explains that psychological safety "takes off the brakes" for teams — removing fear and hesitation while other factors like motivation, accountability, and skill act as the fuel for performance.
Smart Risk and Intelligent Failure Teams that feel safe are more willing to take thoughtful risks. Amy highlights that not all failures are equal: some should be prevented, while others — smart, deliberate experiments — are opportunities for learning and innovation. This approach is essential for long-term growth and adaptability.
Actionable Tips for Leaders
Define what success looks like in your team context.

Create structures and norms that encourage candour and thoughtful risk-taking.

Treat failures differently: distinguish preventable errors from intelligent experiments.

Encourage feedback on ideas before execution to maximise learning.

Why This Matters for SMEs & B2B Leaders Psychological safety is not just for large corporations — small and medium businesses thrive when leaders foster environments where team members speak up, collaborate, and innovate without fear.
About Amy C. Edmondson Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, author of seven books, and a leading researcher on team dynamics, psychological safety, and organisational learning. She has published over 60 scholarly papers and is a sought-after global keynote speaker.
 
Connect with Amy:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amycedmondson/
Books: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Amy+Edmondson
 
ScaleX & Simple Scaling:
Book: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10x Your Business
ScaleX Elevate (under £2M revenue): https://simplescaling.com/scalex-elevate
ScaleX Accelerator (over £2M revenue): https://simplescaling.com/scalex-accelerator-programme
  Website: https://simplescaling.com
  Email: [email protected]
  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simple-scaling
  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplescaling
 
 
#psychological safety #team performance #leadership #podcast

Rhett Power explains why self-talk isn't just personal — it's a business operating system.
In this ScaleX™ Insider clip, Rhett shares how introducing the concept from his book Headamentals into a team retreat unlocked deeper trust, vulnerability, and performance.
THE REAL STICKING POINT:
Most leaders underestimate how much old narratives and internal stories shape behaviour at work.
Self-talk is an operating system.
And it's either helping performance — or quietly sabotaging it.
THE BIG INSIGHT:
When teams are willing to openly discuss:
What gets in their way

The patterns they default to under pressure

The "monster" in their head

It doesn't weaken culture — it strengthens it.
Vulnerability, when handled in a safe environment, builds resilience.
What people fear will be used against them often becomes the very thing that bonds the team.
But psychological safety must exist first.
LEADERSHIP TRUTH:
Negative self-talk is universal.
As Novak Djokovic explains, everyone — in sport or business — experiences it.
The difference at the top isn't the absence of doubt.
It's the ability to tame it through consistent practice.
Elite performance isn't about eliminating the Monster.
It's about mastering it.
THE REFLECTION:
What narrative are you operating from?
Is your team safe enough to talk about what really gets in the way?
Are you treating self-leadership as seriously as strategy?
Because culture isn't just built on goals and metrics.
It's built on the conversations leaders are brave enough to have.
About Rhett Power
Rhett Power is CEO and Co-Founder of Accountability, Inc., where he works with funded, revenue-generating founders and executive teams navigating growth, complexity, and transformation. Through executive coaching, leadership advisory, and keynote speaking, he helps leaders sharpen judgment, move with speed, and install the accountability systems required to scale — without losing culture or focus.
SCALEX AND SIMPLE SCALING:
Book: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10x Your Business ScaleX Elevate: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-elevate (for businesses under £2M revenue) ScaleX Accelerator: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-accelerator-programme(for businesses over £2M revenue) Website: https://simplescaling.com Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simple-scaling Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplescaling
ScaleX Insider is a 12-month journey for ambitious SME leaders combining strategy, mindset work, and peer support to break through revenue plateaus.
Podcast Host: Brendan McGurgan, Co-Founder Simple Scaling

Rhett Power, six-time founder and executive coach, explains how the biggest threat to scaling isn't market conditions — it's the voice inside the leader's head.
THE REAL STICKING POINT:
Even high-performing leaders struggle with imposter syndrome, overthinking, and hesitation — especially in high-pressure moments.
You've earned your seat at the table.
But internally, you're asking:
Do I belong?
Am I good enough?
What if I get this wrong?
THE BIG INSIGHT:
The "Monster" shows up in predictable ways:
Overthinking that slows decisions

Self-handicapping that delays action

Confirmation bias that reinforces negative narratives

Left unchecked, that internal dialogue becomes external culture.
One careless sentence can deflate a team.
One reframed challenge can ignite it.
LEADERSHIP TRUTH:
Your self-talk doesn't stay private.
It shapes performance, speed, and culture.
If you confirm fear, your team shrinks.
If you reframe challenge, your team rises.
THE REFLECTION:
Where are you overthinking instead of deciding?
Where are you confirming a limiting story?
What conversation are you avoiding?
Scaling isn't just strategic.
It's psychological.
Master the voice in your head — or it will run your business.
About Rhett Power
Rhett Power is CEO and Co-Founder of Accountability, Inc., where he works with funded, revenue-generating founders and executive teams navigating growth, complexity, and transformation. Through executive coaching, leadership advisory, and keynote speaking, he helps leaders sharpen judgment, move with speed, and install the accountability systems required to scale — without losing culture or focus.
SCALEX AND SIMPLE SCALING:
Book: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10x Your Business ScaleX Elevate: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-elevate (for businesses under £2M revenue) ScaleX Accelerator: https://simplescaling.com/scalex-accelerator-programme(for businesses over £2M revenue) Website: https://simplescaling.com Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/simple-scaling Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplescaling
ScaleX Insider is a 12-month journey for ambitious SME leaders combining strategy, mindset work, and peer support to break through revenue plateaus.
Podcast Host: Brendan McGurgan, Co-Founder Simple Scaling