Every employee, at every level, wants to feel seen, heard, and respected. If we don’t feel safe, we can’t be our best selves or do our most creative work. Leaders who create conditions for psychological safety are the transformational leaders every organization around the globe needs today and in the future. We believe that leadership is independent of formal hierarchical roles. You can be a leader in any position within your organization, whether you are a manager of a small team, a director, an executive, or someone who works to leverage the strengths of colleagues and team members. The Psychological Safety Playbook is the guide you need to lead your team to the highest levels of performance and innovation.
The book invites you to explore twenty-five specific actions that will create more psychological safety in your workplace. These are all moves that every leader can adopt and practice. Each move features a description of why to try it, instructions on how to do it, and a nutshell summary. You can start anywhere in the playbook—all the plays and moves are self-contained
“Powerful ideas, generously shared. Simple, actionable, and urgent. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares enough to lead.”
Seth Godin, bestselling author of This Is Marketing
“The Psychological Safety Playbook offers timeless practices to help you thrive and lead in an uncertain and challenging world. The authors’ engaging style makes their practical suggestions both compelling and actionable.”
Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership andManagement, Harvard Business School, and author of The Fearless Organization
“We’ve all heard lots about the WHY of psychological safety; at last, we have a practical guide to the HOW of it. If you want your team to thrive, this book has tools you’ll want to use.”
Michael Bungay Stanier, bestselling author of The Coaching Habit
“If you are leading change and transformation (and who isn’t!), then The Psychological Safety Playbook should be on your reading list. Filled with pragmatic examples, this book provides a simple framework that will support you in building the team of your dreams.”
Charlene Li, chief research officer, PA Consulting, and New York Times–bestselling author of The Disruption Mindset
“The right book at the right time! While most leaders. should have realized the superpower effects of psychological safety by now, many are still struggling to implement it. In this playbook, Helbig and Norman provide a wonderful collection of practical and easy-to-implement moves, which they present in a playful rather than a rigid, academic way. Very practical and insightful while easy to read—you ‘only’ need to practice!”
Oliver Herrmann, SVP, New Ways of Working, Deutsche Telekom
“It’s time to throw out the antiquated model of tough-guy, fear-driven leadership. The most successful leaders I know are deliberate about building trust with their teams. This book will not only make you a better leader but also a better person.”
Katrina Alcorn, design executive and award-winning author
“If organizational culture is important to you, and psychological safety is a vehicle to get you there, this book is the blueprint that will serve as your guide.”
Dr. Ruth Gotian, Thinkers50 #1 Emerging Management Thinker and author of The Success Factor
“Every team could benefit from Helbig and Norman’s inclusive rituals and practical tips for creating work environments where all voices are heard and respected.”
Ludmila N. PrASlova, PhD, SHRM-SCP, professor, VUSC Graduate Organizational Psychology
“If we want to talk about and achieve only trivial things, we don’t need to worry about psychological safety. If we want to talk about what’s essential and do what really matters, we need to make it safer for people to really open up with each other. This book beautifully illustrates this distinction and goes beyond it to providing an operating manual for how to achieve it!”
Greg McKeown, bestselling author of Effortless and Essentialism
“The Psychological Safety Playbook highlights the best practices of effective leadership: inclusiveness, deep listening, learning from mistakes, and team innovation. Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman demystify the concept of psychological safety with specific, concrete practices. This book is essential reading for any leader wishing to create a high-engagement and high- performance culture in contemporary organizations, which increasingly require a more human-centric approach to leadership.”
Rich Fernandez, CEO, SIY Global
“The Psychological Safety Playbook is packed with practical and effective tips for leaders on building inclusive and empowered teams. Every play and move in the book is well researched, actionable, and can be applied today.”
Amy Coleman, CVP, Human Resources and Corporate Functions, Microsoft
Psychological safety in the workplace matters now more than ever. In uncertain times—be they economic, political, or social—we need our colleagues and staff members to feel they can share their ideas, ask for help, or offer a divergent perspective without fear of negative ramifications. Although we know that psychological safety is essential, sustaining it through real-world challenges can be difficult. That’s where this book comes in.
The Psychological Safety Playbook for Changemakers builds on the foundations of the first Playbook, offering deeper insights, practical tools, and new stories for creating lasting change. In the book you’ll learn how to move through resistance, rebuild psychological safety when it has been broken, and “walk the talk”. Whether you’re a team leader, facilitator, or passionate individual working to shift culture, this Playbook helps you build momentum in driving sustainable change.
Culture change happens through small, consistent actions that ripple across teams and organizations. This Playbook is your companion for that journey—helping you stay the course, inspire others, and create the conditions where everyone can do their best, most creative work in these increasingly challenging times.
Coming May 19th
“The Psychological Safety Playbook for Changemakers is an invaluable resource. Helbig and Norman have compiled a set of actionable practices—grounded in solid research and brought to life with delightful drawings—that make the serious work of building a culture of learning feel accessible, human, and realistic.”
Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis professor of leadership at Harvard Business School, author of Right Kind of Wrong and The Fearless Organization
“Helbig and Norman make a powerful case that sustained, meaningful change comes not from loud pronouncements but from quiet consistency. This book offers a thoughtful, action- able guide to the small signals and daily behaviors that build trust, unify teams, and create resilient cultures.”
Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of Drive, When, and The Power of Regret
“If you want more honest conversations at work, this book gives you language, rituals, and exercises to make speaking up safer.”
Frances Frei, Harvard Business School professor
“The more uncertain the outside world becomes, the more leaders must provide their teams with psychological safety. This book helps them learn to do just that.”
Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom
“Our research with thousands of global leaders revealed a striking truth: Leaders are the worst judges of their own effectiveness; their colleagues are twice as accurate. The same holds for psychological safety. You can’t assess it alone; it lives in others’ perceptions. This book offers a practical road map for leaders ready to bridge that gap and genuinely transform their workplace culture. If you’re confident you’ve already mastered it, this book is especially for you.”
Joseph Folkman, PhD, president of Zenger Folkman
“The Playbook aims to inspire the next generation of changemakers to create a safer culture in which leaders listen and communicate courageously, and teams transform failures into opportunities. Ideal reading for any leader ready to accept the challenge.”
Barbara Maini, head of HR Europe at Boeing
“Helbig and Norman understand the reality of driving change: Progress is uneven, resistance is real, and persistence matters. This book offers thoughtful, actionable support for changemakers who are determined to keep building psychological safety in complex, high-pressure environments.”
Sabrina Ooi, CEO of Calm Collective Asia
“This Playbook bridges psychological safety and real-world execution, offering leaders practical guidance on how sustainable culture change can take root in everyday work.”
Marcus Hansen, CEO of ÖRAG Rechtsschutzversicherungs–AG and Deutsche Assistance Versicherung AG
“This is a great book for people who are already doing the work of psychological safety and discovering how hard it is to sustain. Building on their original Playbook, Helbig and Norman go deeper into the practical and relational work of cultural change. This is the essential field guide for changemakers doing real work in the real world.”
Tom Geraghty, co-founder of psychsafety.com
“This isn’t just another leadership book—it’s a field guide for the work of cultural transformation, offering both the inspiration and practical tools to navigate the inevitable challenges along the way. It’s a brilliant follow-up to their first book— I highly recommend it for all sizes of organizations.”
Robert David, executive director of the Community for Strategic HR Partnership (CSHRP)
