Trust and psychological safety are very closely related but also starkly different from each other. Understand how they function independently and yet influence each other at the workplace and help create stronger teams.
How are they different?
Trust is about how you believe in your team and their work. It’s the confidence that they will act respectfully, honestly and dependably and get their work done on time.
Psychological safety is about how you feel within the group. It is the faith that you can speak up, ask for help, share an idea or speak up if you do not agree with something without being judged or blamed.
How do they reinforce each other?
Trust and psychological safety feed into each other. When there’s trust, people are more likely to feel safe. When there’s psychological safety, trust deepens.
Trust builds safety- When leaders and teammates show consistency, empathy, and follow-through, people begin to feel like they won’t be punished or embarrassed for being vulnerable.
Safety builds trust- When people regularly experience a safe environment, where they’re heard, respected, and supported, it builds confidence in the team’s intentions. Over time, that creates deeper interpersonal trust.
It might look like –
A team member is asking for support because they are overwhelmed. And they are not faced with humour and jokes at them or being put down for asking for help.
A manager approaches their team as they are confused about a problem and cannot come up with a constructive solution all by themselves.
A team member giving feedback to their senior and it’s received with openness and not defensiveness.