Why belonging is not enough — people must also feel safe to speak

Written by: Adelee Penner

New Series

Inclusive Leadership: Creating Conditions Where Everyone Thrives

Inclusive leadership is not a program, an initiative, or a checklist — it is a daily practice of expanding who belongs and who has a voice within our systems. This series invites educational leaders to step beyond familiar language and deeply examine how their actions, assumptions, routines, and relationships shape what becomes possible for students, staff, and communities. By blending research, narrative, and reflective provocation, each post explores a different dimension of inclusive leadership: belonging, innovation, voice, psychological safety, shared power, and the future-ready mindsets required for equity to take root.

Together, these pieces offer a companion for leaders committed to creating systems where every person is seen, valued, and able to contribute to the collective work of learning and change.

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Abstract: Psychological safety has become a familiar term in leadership circles, but its deeper meaning is often misunderstood. It is not comfort, nor is it an absence of accountability. Instead, it is the foundational condition that allows people to take risks, surface concerns, disagree productively, and innovate without fear of humiliation or punishment.

Drawing on the work of Amy Edmondson (2019), collaborative professionalism (Hargreaves & O’Connor, 2018), and emergent research on trust and relational leadership, this blog explores how psychological safety becomes a cornerstone of inclusive leadership. Through narrative examples, we examine the subtle ways leaders either strengthen or erode safety in their daily interactions. Ultimately, psychological safety is not a “soft skill” — it is a strategic leadership practice essential for complex, future-focused educational systems.

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I have learned over years of coaching leaders that people rarely fear the work — they fear the consequences of being honest about the work.

Psychological safety is not about creating cozy staffrooms or conflict-free meetings. It is about cultivating a culture where people feel secure enough to speak truthfully, take risks, surface tensions, and challenge assumptions without worrying about judgment or retaliation. As Amy Edmondson (2019) reminds us, psychological safety enables courageous contribution, not comfort.

Inclusive leadership depends on it.

Belonging tells people they are welcome.
Safety tells people they are free.

Belonging Without Safety Is Not Inclusion

Many schools pride themselves on being “like a family.” While relational warmth is essential, it can mask deeper issues: people are kind to one another, but they do not challenge one another. They avoid disagreement to maintain harmony. They stay quiet because speaking up feels risky — socially, emotionally, or professionally.

Belonging without psychological safety results in polite stagnation.
Everyone feels connected, but no one feels empowered.

Inclusive systems require both:

• Belonging, so people know they matter; and
  
• Safety, so people risk asking difficult questions.
  

When leaders create only belonging, they build congenial cultures.
When leaders cultivate safety, they build courageous cultures.

A Leadership Coaching Moment: When Silence Reveals the System

Earlier this year, I worked with a leadership team redesigning their assessment practices. They were excited about the shift — or so it seemed. In individual conversations, several teachers quietly expressed concerns:

• “I don’t want to sound negative during meetings.”
  
• “Others seem so sure… I don’t want to be the one who slows us down.”
  
• “I worry about how my questions will be interpreted.”
  

During group discussions, however, these same teachers said nothing. They nodded along. They took notes. They were “engaged,” but their silence told the real story.

The issue wasn’t the concept of outcomes-based assessment.
The issue was fear.

I returned to the team and gently named what I observed:
“You think you have consensus. What you have is quiet hesitation.”

The room went still.

The principal took a breath and said, “If people have concerns, I want to hear them.” But no one spoke. It was the classic paradox — leaders think they’re open to feedback, but unless the system has been intentionally shaped for safety, people won’t believe feedback is safe.

The following meeting began differently.
The principal opened with:
“Today, I’m not asking for agreement. I’m asking for honest thinking.”

She modelled vulnerability by sharing her own uncertainties. Slowly, staff followed. Questions surfaced. Tensions became visible. And from that honesty came clarity, creativity, and shared direction.

Psychological safety didn’t eliminate conflict — it made conflict productive.

That is inclusive leadership in action.

Safety Is Built in Small Moments, Not Grand Gestures

Leaders often ask me, “How do I build psychological safety?”
My answer is always the same:

In the smallest interactions, over long periods of time.

Safety grows when leaders:

• Respond to questions with curiosity instead of defensiveness.
  
• Acknowledge missteps openly.
  
• Protect dissent, especially from those with less positional power.
  
• Give credit generously and share mistakes collectively.
  
• Ask, “What am I missing?” and genuinely want to know.
  
• Make learning visible — including their own.
  

Hargreaves and O’Connor (2018) argue that collaborative professionalism depends on relational trust and collective responsibility. These conditions arise only when people feel safe to contribute honestly.

Safety is not a sentiment. It is a structure leaders create.

Innovation Cannot Occur Without Psychological Safety

Future-focused systems require experimentation, risk-taking, and exploring the unknown. But there is no innovation when people fear:

• being wrong
  
• being judged
  
• being misunderstood
  
• disrupting the status quo
  
• being the only one asking questions
  

Innovation demands psychological safety because risk always precedes growth.

If we want systems capable of navigating the complexity of contemporary education, we must begin by ensuring people feel safe enough to bring their whole selves — their insights, their uncertainties, and their ideas — into the work.

Inclusive Leadership Is the Practice of Making Courage Possible

At its core, psychological safety is the most essential condition of inclusive leadership. Without it:

• Distributed leadership becomes tokenistic
  
• Collaboration becomes compliance
  
• Equity conversations become rehearsed rather than real
  
• Innovation becomes superficial
  
• Accountability becomes fear-based rather than growth-oriented
  

When we make it safe for people to speak, we make it possible for people to lead.

Reflection Questions for Leaders

1. What signals (explicit or subtle) do you send about how safe it is to disagree with you?
   
2. When was the last time you publicly acknowledged a mistake — and what did that signal to your team?
   
3. Who speaks freely in your system, and who holds back? Why might that be?
   
4. What routines or habits could you redesign to normalize questions and uncertainty?
   
5. How might your leadership shift if you centered psychological safety as a core practice?
   

Let’s talk again soon.  Take good care of yourself.

Adelee

References

Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead: Brave work. Tough conversations. Whole hearts. Random House.

Edmondson, A. C. (2019). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. Wiley.

Hargreaves, A., & O’Connor, M. T. (2018). Collaborative professionalism: When teaching together means learning for all. Corwin.

Schein, E. H., & Schein, P. (2017). Organizational culture and leadership (5th ed.). Wiley.

Newman, A., Donohue, R., & Eva, N. (2017). Psychological safety: A systematic review of the literature. Human Resource Management Review, 27(3), 521–535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2017.01.001

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