Feature


Psychological safety: The human factor behind successful AI adoption


By Darya Mishyna, Principal Business Psychologist at Matthew Syed Consulting


W


hat do Pixar’s “Braintrust” and New Zealand’s All Blacks have in common?


Despite their different fields


both drive success not by individual brilliance, but by a culture where people with diverse skills and perspectives contribute ideas and challenge each other constructively1,2


. Today, companies like Amazon


and Infosys are using the same principle to boost the success of their AI implementation efforts3,4


.


Psychological safety in the AI era At the heart of this is psychological safety5,6


– an environment where


people feel empowered and responsible to contribute unique perspectives, collaborate with others, challenge the status quo, and learn from experience. While academic research is still


catching up with the frenetic pace of AI adoption, we believe the importance of fostering psychological safety is amlified not diminished. The data we have so far is striking. A research paper by MIT Technology Review found that leaders


overwhelmingly view psychological safety as a driver of AI adoption, with 83% observing connections between psychological safety and tangible AI outcomes. And yet fewer than four in ten describe their organisation as having “very high” levels of psychological safety3


Even more revealing, while 91% of employees say that it’s important to speak up, a sizable 61% admit they rarely do so in front of senior leaders8


although experimentation-friendly companies have greater success with AI projects3


. , 41% of employees report


that experimenting with new approaches is usually seen as a risk rather than opportunity in their organisation8


In other words, the capability organisations most need is the one many currently lack. So, what is really going on?


. . Similarly,


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