About twenty years ago a Harvard professor called Amy Edmundson did some fascinating research into team effectiveness. She wanted to answer the question, what makes some teams more effective than others. Edmundson expected to find that higher performing teams made fewer mistakes but instead found that the best teams reported a higher number of mistakes when compared to less effective teams. The conclusion she drew from this research is that higher performing teams felt much more able to speak about and report their errors. Essentially these teams had what psychologists call psychological safety “ a belief that nobody will be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes and that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking”. Within a work setting when everyone feels able to speak up and contribute this leads to fewer mistakes and better performance regardless of what kind of organisation you work in. Some people have described psychological