Is Your Workplace Psychological Safe? Four Questions to Ask Yourself
Ever sat in a meeting and kept your best idea to yourself? Vonda and Lori open this episode with that exact question — and it turns out the reasons people go quiet have a name: psychological safety. Or rather, the lack of it. This week the hosts unpack what psychological safety actually means, why companies like Google have proven it drives performance, and four warning signs that your flower shop might not have it.
What psychological safety is (and isn't)
The definition Vonda shares: psychological safety is when individuals are comfortable sharing their thoughts, ideas, and concerns without fearing negative consequences like rejection or ridicule. Google's research found that when teams have it, people are more innovative, collaborative, and trusting — they perform better and make smarter decisions.
Just as important is what it isn't. Lori — inspired partly by past podcast guest Nicole Price's content on the topic — warns against confusing psychological safety with kindness or enabling. When the Flower Clique team brainstormed their Sales Prep School course, everyone in the room shot down somebody's idea at some point. Nobody was hurt, because everyone trusted that the room was for each other. Psychological safety doesn't mean everybody gets a ribbon; agreeing with ideas you don't believe in actually does more damage than honest, constructive pushback.
The four warning signs
1. High attrition. Filter out the pandemic-driven departures — the parent who left to homeschool, the older employee managing risk. It's everyone else who stayed a while and quietly left that you should think about. Vonda cites a Mark Murphy webinar where a survey found 41 percent of employees felt their leader rarely or never responded to their ideas, versus only 26 percent who felt consistently heard. And most people never tell you why they leave. Lori's friend left a long-time job simply because she couldn't shake the feeling her new boss would throw her under the bus — no proof, just a vibe. That's the sobering part: you can give off "unapproachable" without ever knowing it. Both hosts admit it's happened to them.
2. People don't speak up in meetings. If the same voices talk every week and the same people stay silent every week, that's your gauge. The fix comes straight from Lori's teaching days: call on the quiet ones — but pose a question you know they can answer, so they get to feel what success feels like, then praise it and build on it. Vonda's shop-floor example: "We're getting flowers in three days a week — do you think we need four?" Your designers know the answer, and whether they say four days or two, ask them to explain their thinking. Now the whole team is engaged instead of spectating.
3. Everyone always agrees with you. This one is sneaky, because it feels like alignment. Announce you're putting dandelions in the dozen-rose vases and watch everyone nod — they're not agreeing, they've just learned you'll do it anyway. Constant agreement often means you've shot people down too many times, and they've stopped caring.
4. Productivity is declining. Watch for the designer who's a little slower and a little off. Sometimes it's life outside the shop, but sometimes it's the workplace itself — including lost respect for whoever's leading. As Vonda says, once a designer stops respecting you, that's a hard one to win back.
How to rebuild safety
Start one-on-one, before you try to fix things in the group. And in that conversation, your job is to listen: Lori's rule is the employee should do 75 percent of the talking. Don't cross-examine, and banish the phrases that scream "I'm not listening" — "suck it up," "you'll get over it," and the worst offender, "you think you've got problems." Say one of those and that employee will never share a vulnerable moment with you again.
Instead, repeat their words back to them — the same technique Flower Clique teaches in sales training with customers works just as well with employees. If a group still won't open up, have everyone write ideas on paper and hand them in (works best with five or more people, or they'll figure out whose is whose). And remember the hiring principle Lori teaches in the Boss's Bonus course: hire people better than you and different from you. You need every personality type to round out the team — and as Vonda puts it, you're only as good as your worst employee.
Key takeaways
- Psychological safety means people can share ideas without fear — and it measurably improves innovation, trust, and performance.
- Audit the four signs: unexplained turnover, silent meetings, universal agreement, and slipping productivity.
- Draw out quiet employees with questions you know they can answer well, then build on their success.
- Fix safety one-on-one first: listen 75/25, skip the cross-examination, and reflect their words back.
- Honest pushback in a trusting room is psychological safety; hollow agreement is the warning sign.