"If you need surgery, choose the medical team with the most mistakes: The Power of Psychological Safety and Transparent Leadership"

When facing something as critical as surgery, it’s natural to seek the team that appears flawless—the one with no errors on record and a spotless reputation. But what if I told you that the best team for the job is the one that reports the most mistakes? This idea seems counterintuitive, but it’s exactly what Amy Edmondson’s research on hospital teams uncovered.

In her groundbreaking study "The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth" (2018), Edmondson, Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, discovered that the most effective, trusted, and high-performing teams were not the ones that never failed but those that were transparent about their mistakes. These teams weren’t necessarily making more errors—they were simply willing to report them, discuss them openly, and learn from them.

At the heart of their success was more than just the courage to own up to mistakes—it was transparent leadership and a commitment to fostering a culture of psychological safety, where people felt empowered to speak up, share ideas, express concerns, challenge leadership decisions, and admit failures without fear of blame.

Let’s dive deeper into what this means for leaders, teams, and organizations.

The Paradox of High Performance: Why Mistakes Matter

Edmondson’s research focused on hospital units—a high-stakes environment where mistakes can have life-or-death consequences. Her findings revealed that:

• Teams that reported more mistakes performed better overall.
• These teams didn’t fail more often; they simply created an environment where people felt safe enough to admit errors.
• Teams that reported fewer mistakes weren’t necessarily more skilled—they were often afraid to speak up due to fear of punishment or judgment.

The key takeaway? The absence of reported mistakes often indicates fear and silence, not perfection. On the other hand, a culture where errors are acknowledged and addressed leads to faster learning, better collaboration, and stronger outcomes.

The Role of Transparent Leadership

At the core of these high-performing teams was transparent leadership—leaders who:

1. Modeled Vulnerability: They admitted their own mistakes and showed that imperfection is human.
2. Encouraged Openness: They invited feedback, listened actively, and ensured everyone’s voice was heard.
3. Shared Information Freely: They didn’t withhold critical updates or decisions but shared them to foster collective understanding and ownership.
4. Welcomed Constructive Dissent: They created a culture where team members felt safe to challenge assumptions, question leadership ideas, and suggest alternative solutions—without fear of retaliation.

Transparent leaders understand that being challenged doesn’t undermine authority—it strengthens decisions. When team members have the freedom to respectfully question leadership, better ideas emerge, blind spots are exposed, and decisions are more robust.

The Freedom to Speak Up: Psychological Safety in Action

In psychologically safe teams, communication flows freely in all directions—not just top-down. Team members feel confident that:

• Their ideas and contributions will be respected, even if they’re unconventional.
• Asking questions or admitting uncertainty won’t be seen as a weakness.
• Challenging leadership won’t be viewed as disloyalty but as a valuable contribution to team success.

This kind of environment fuels innovation and adaptability. After all, some of the best breakthroughs come from ideas that challenge traditional approaches or point out potential flaws in a plan. When people feel safe to offer these insights, organizations become more resilient and creative.

Why Psychological Safety and Transparency Are Essential in Leadership Today

In a world where organizations face constant change and disruption, the ability to learn quickly and adapt is a competitive advantage. Psychological safety enables this by:

1. Fostering Innovation: Teams that feel safe are more likely to experiment and propose bold solutions.
2. Enhancing Collaboration: Open communication strengthens trust, reduces conflicts, and aligns teams toward common goals.
3. Improving Decision-Making: Transparency ensures that leaders and teams have access to diverse perspectives and critical feedback, leading to more informed decisions.
4. Preventing Groupthink: By encouraging team members to respectfully challenge leadership, organizations avoid the trap of groupthink, where dissenting opinions are silenced, and poor decisions go unchecked.

Without psychological safety, organizations risk falling into a culture of silence, where issues are buried, feedback is withheld, and mistakes are repeated.

Practical Steps for Leaders to Build Psychological Safety

If you’re a leader looking to create a culture of openness and trust, here are some actionable steps:

1. Be Transparent: Share not just decisions but the rationale behind them. Let your team understand the "why" behind your choices.
2. Acknowledge Mistakes: When you make a mistake, own it and discuss what can be learned. This sets the tone for your team to do the same.
3. Ask for Feedback: Regularly ask your team for input on what’s working and what isn’t. Show them that their opinions matter.
4. Reward Candor: Celebrate team members who ask tough questions, admit failures, or suggest improvements. Reinforce the message that speaking up is a strength.
5. Encourage Healthy Debate: Create an environment where respectful disagreement is not just allowed but welcomed as part of a robust decision-making process.

Conclusion: Trust the Team That’s Honest About Its Imperfections

True high performance doesn’t come from hiding mistakes—it comes from transparency, collaboration, and continuous learning. A team that admits its imperfections and embraces feedback is a team that will grow stronger, solve problems faster, and ultimately deliver better results.

So, if you had to trust a team with something critical—whether it’s surgery, a high-stakes project, or a major decision—trust the one that’s transparent about its challenges and open to new ideas. Trust the team where people feel safe enough to challenge even the leader’s ideas.

Because the best decisions don’t come from avoiding disagreement—they come from having the courage to embrace it.