It’s Monday morning. Your fourth alarm jolts you awake at exactly 6:37 am after missing the ones by 5:30 a.m., 5:50 a.m. and 6:20 a.m., but you were never really asleep. The discomfort and anxiety of another dreaded day at work kept you tossing and turning all night. You drag yourself out of bed, torn between calling it quits and enduring one more day. The thought of the consequences of resigning strengthens your resolve. So, you hurriedly begin to prepare, knowing that you must be at the office before 8:00 a.m., no excuses.
The morning rush begins. You squeeze into a crowded bus where people fight for space, each person trying to arrive at work as punctually as possible. When you manage to get seated, you are assaulted with the smell of sweat and exhaust fumes mixed with a bad odour. The driver speeds through potholes, jerking you forward every few seconds as if he has an extra life. You are too busy calculating how many minutes you have left, praying that there will be no traffic or a sudden breakdown. Your heart pounds with each stop. You realise that time seems to move faster than usual.
At exactly 7:57 am, you finally stumble into the office, breathless, exhausted, but relieved. You made it. You sink into your chair, power up your computer, and open your inbox. And then you see it. A message from your boss.
Subject: “What kind of work did you send to me?” Your heart stops! You click. And the words hit harder than the bus chaos this morning ever could. “How did you even enter this company? Better rework the attached document and send it to me in the next 30 minutes and see me in my office when you are done,” the email read.
The command rings, sending shivers down your spine. You sit up in your office chair with trepidation and shaking hands. You open the document. It is the same report you spent your entire weekend working on, barely getting any rest, second-guessing every sentence, making sure every detail was perfect. You scan through it, searching for the mistake. What could possibly have gone so wrong? Your mind races. You only have 30 minutes to fix something you do not even understand how to approach. You do not dare ask for clarification; that would only invite another round of insults.
Your colleagues keep their heads down, pretending not to see your panic. They have all been here before. Everyone knows that speaking up means making yourself a target. At that moment, you start to question your self-worth and competence. Your despair turns to panic as you foresee the possibility of not finishing the work in 30 minutes. All you could manage to ask was, “How did I get here? And in that moment, you begin to believe the worst thing any employee can believe: “Maybe I am the problem…”
Sadly, this is the reality of many workplaces where fear, not respect, drives performance. Where mistakes are met with punishment instead of correction. Where employees are too afraid to ask questions, share ideas, or even breathe too loudly. But what if workplaces were different? What if leaders fostered a culture of trust instead of terror? What if making a mistake were treated as an opportunity to learn rather than a reason for humiliation?
This is what ethical leadership is about. A system of leadership that promotes psychological safety. according to a Harvard Business Review article by Amy Gallo titled What is Psychological Safety?”, the term psychological safety from a team perspective is conceptualised as a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences.”
But why is it important, specifically in modern-day organisations? For Amy, psychological safety is important for three main reasons.
“First, psychological safety leads to team members feeling more engaged and motivated, because they feel that their contributions matter and that they’re able to speak up without fear of retribution,” the Harvard Review Article reads. This aligns with a 2025 report by the World Metrics, which states that teams with high psychological safety are 21 times more likely to contribute innovative ideas.
“Second, it can lead to better decision-making, as people feel more comfortable voicing their opinions and concerns, which often leads to a more diverse range of perspectives being heard and considered.” Importantly, the World Metrics Report states that 76 percent of employees feel they are most likely to perform their best when they feel safe to take risks and voice their opinions.
The third reason Amy states in the Harvard Review Article is that psychological safety can foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement, as team members feel comfortable sharing their mistakes and learning from them.
So, in the context of the frustrated worker highlighted in the introduction of this article, psychological safety is not just a luxury; it is a necessity. Without it, the workplace becomes a minefield of emotional hazards, were fear silences innovation and stress stifles productivity. That frantic Monday morning is not just about traffic or deadlines; it is about an invisible weight, the fear of failure in a hostile environment, because teams with high psychological safety are 15 percent more likely to learn from failures, according to the World Metrics Report of 2025.
Imagine if that employee could walk into the office knowing that asking for clarification wouldn’t be interpreted as incompetence. Imagine if the email from the boss had read: “I reviewed your report and I think we might need to rework a few sections. Let’s go over it together and see how we can improve it.”
The difference is more than the tone; it is the difference between surviving at work and thriving at work. This is the power of psychological safety. It changes not just how people work, but why they work. Instead of being driven by fear, employees are fuelled by purpose, ownership, and a sense of belonging.
This is what psychological safety means. And it is not just a soft idea; it is a proven, strategic pillar of high-performing workplaces. Burnout, for instance, is coming into organisations and has negative effects on work performance. However, psychological safety has been linked to a 25 per cent reduction in employee burnout.
So, going back to our story: maybe the problem was not the report. Maybe it was not the employee. Maybe the real failure… was leadership. Leaders who promote psychological safety see 27 per cent higher team performance, as provided by the World Metric report. This is significant to the overall perception of the organisation by employees, as 55 per cent of employees in high psychological safety environments feel more committed to their organisation, the report says.
Therefore, the question is not just limited to “Do you feel safe under your boss?”
It is:
“What kind of workplace are we building when fear is louder than feedback?”
“What are you doing to help others feel safe under you?”
“And what could we achieve if we finally felt safe enough to speak?
