The Veilguard on the Importance of Psychological Safety

"It's showing the team that they can tell you whatever's on their mind, even if they think you're full of crap, and know you'll listen."

· 1 min read
The Veilguard on the Importance of Psychological Safety

In my downtime from the job search, I've been playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard lately. I was pleasantly surprised to see a beloved character from prior titles, Varric, coaching the protagonist, Rook, on good leadership by way of cultivating psychological safety:

"It's showing the team that they can tell you whatever's on their mind, even if they think you're full of crap, and know you'll listen."

If I, as a leader, or other contributors to a product sound wrong, we need discussion and debate to check ourselves on our approaches. This may change the final approach or it may not - absolute consensus isn't necessarily the goal - but everyone should have their concerns validated and documented (perhaps through a decision record), if not resolved, before the work gets delivered.

A team wherein individuals are afraid to express objections or doubts is a dysfunctional one, and in terms of software development, will produce an inferior product. Even the best developers and leaders can be wrong.