The Field Guide › Article
Frames the observer effect as a powerful driver of psychological safety, built on Todd Conklin's principle from The Five Principles of Human and Organisational Performance: people determine how to move forward after both success and failure by watching how leaders respond to good and bad information. When someone admits a mistake, raises a concern, or takes an interpersonal risk, others observe the response and use it to predict how safe it is for them to take similar risks. Respond poorly and it has a chilling effect, discouraging future disclosure of important ('bad') news, especially upward to leadership. Crucially the 'you' is collective: leadership appears at every level, and you don't need to be told you're a leader to be one — whether or not you hold formal authority, how you react when others take interpersonal risks shapes their willingness to do so again. As Conklin puts it, people will only tell you what you make it safe to tell you.