03/11/2025
How do the ghosts of blow-ups past impact psychological safety in your team?
Old conflicts don’t just disappear.
They linger as ghosts in your teams, shaping how safe people feel to:
1. speak up, or
2. take risks.
If team members remember being punished or humiliated for making mistakes or raising hard topics, they’re less likely to bring their true selves into the room. For example, if Sally-Ann's boss aggressively rebuffs her when she suggested a new idea during brainstorming, or humiliates her in an interdepartmental group meeting, Sally-Ann may become quieter and more compliant. She tries to agree with everything her boss says, smiles, and makes herself smaller for the sake of harmony.
Her boss assumes that "we're all good", because everyone else tries to be harmonious because they're afraid of the boss's reactions.
✅ The team is wearing a mask.
✅ The team is walking on emotional eggshells.
✅ The team loses an additional perspective, because the leader doesn't even realise that:
🔴 1. He/she reacted harshly.
🔴 2. If he/she had listened instead of cutting her off quickly, Sally-Ann's idea could have helped solve their problem.
🔴 3. He/she lacks self-awareness and flexibility and may be operating with a fixed mindset.
Healing from these moments takes more than forgetting. It takes:
1. honest conversations
2. acknowledgement
3. a shared commitment to moving forward with trust and empathy.
What old stories need clearing in your team so everyone can breathe—and contribute—more freely?
