If you have been in leadership for more than five minutes, you will have noticed that the phrase ‘psychological safety’ has become one of those workplace favourites. It shows up at conferences, in LinkedIn posts, strategy decks and the occasional team meeting where everyone nods enthusiastically, then quietly goes back to business as usual.
But genuine psychological safety is not built on slogans or laminated posters. It is built on the very unglamorous but potent combination of consistent leadership behaviour, clear communication and shared language. When you add solid Health and Safety foundations, predictable feedback rhythms and tools like Extended DISC, you create the conditions for people to feel safe, informed, respected and valued. That is when trust becomes real, not just an aspirational word written on a wall.
The real ingredients of trust
As a business owner or people leader, you already know that trust is the currency of teamwork. When trust is high, communication is easier, decisions are clearer and problems get solved before they turn into fires. When trust is low, everything takes longer, frustrations simmer under the surface and leaders find themselves firefighting instead of leading.
Many workplaces rely on good intentions and hope, but trust is built on repeatable behaviours. Think of it like your Health and Safety programme. You do not hope people will lift safely, you teach them how. You do not hope they will report hazards, you create systems and expectations.
The same structure applies to psychological safety. People feel safe when:
• Leaders follow through consistently
• Communication is clear, honest and timely
• There is a shared language for how we work together
• Feedback is regular and predictable rather than something delivered only when there is a problem
• Health and Safety processes remove confusion and reduce risk
• Teams understand each other’s preferred communication styles and stress behaviours
When these parts work together, trust stops being a fluffy concept and becomes something people can experience day to day.
Leadership behaviour, the deal maker or breaker
One of the most powerful drivers of psychological safety is what leaders do repeatedly. Consistency signals safety. Inconsistency signals danger. If your Monday message is one thing and your Wednesday behaviour is another, your team will notice, even if they never say so out loud.
This is why so much of our work with clients begins with Acentia Culture Workshops and Leadership Capability sessions. These workshops help teams define what behaviour looks like in practice. Not a list of values written in corporate jargon, but clear expectations built from the inside out.
When leaders demonstrate reliability, fairness, curiosity and transparency, people feel secure. When leaders communicate clearly, hold good one on one conversations and give regular feedback, people feel seen and supported. It is the small everyday actions that create trust, not the once a year town hall.
Shared language, the underrated superpower
If you have ever worked with a team that misinterprets each other often, you know how exhausting it can be. Extended DISC® Effective Communication and Team Collaboration workshops give teams a shared language so they can understand each other in a way that is practical and non judgemental.
Extended DISC® awareness helps people read the room, adjust their communication and understand why someone else might respond differently to the same situation. Suddenly, a colleague’s bluntness is not rudeness, it is a D style communicating efficiently. A teammate’s hesitation is not resistance, it is a C style wanting clarity and time to process.
This shared language removes friction and builds trust faster because people stop filling the gaps with assumption. Instead, they communicate with intention.
Feedback rhythms that reduce anxiety
Nothing elevates heart rates quite like a calendar invite titled Quick Chat from your manager. When feedback is sporadic or only delivered reactively, people feel more anxious and less safe.
Structured feedback and one-to-one frameworks remove that uncertainty. When people know when feedback is coming, how it is delivered and what the conversation is meant to achieve, they stop worrying and start engaging.
Regular one to ones build momentum, strengthen relationships and give people a sense of direction, and the feeling that they are seen and valued. Predictability equals psychological safety. It also reduces the emotional load on leaders, because issues are handled proactively, not stockpiled until they explode.
The Health and Safety connection people often overlook
In New Zealand, Health and Safety responsibilities are non-negotiable. What many organisations miss is that psychological safety and physical safety sit side by side.
Solid H and S systems create clarity, which creates confidence. People feel safer when:
• Inductions are clear and consistent
• Risks are explained in plain language
• Training is easy to access and actually useful
• Documentation removes guesswork
• Processes are followed by everyone, including leaders
• Reviews are done with purpose, not as a tick box exercise
This is why a robust Health and Safety Framework is essential for trust. When physical safety feels organised and well managed, people naturally feel more secure psychologically.
What New Zealand research tells us
The 2024 NZ Workplace Wellbeing Report shows that only around half of Kiwi workers feel safe to speak up when something is not right. Workers who reported high trust in leadership were significantly more engaged, more productive and less likely to be considering leaving their roles.
Trust is not a nice to have in the business context. It drives retention, wellbeing, psychological safety and performance. People cannot do their best work if they feel judged, ignored or unsafe to raise concerns.
Bringing it all together
When you combine leadership consistency, shared language through Extended DISC®, clear communication, structured feedback rhythms and a strong Health and Safety foundation, you reduce uncertainty and increase confidence. That is the true formula for psychological safety.
The good news is you do not need massive programmes to get started. You just need the right structures and the willingness to lead with clarity and humanity.
Where Spice can help
If your workplace is ready to turn trust and psychological safety into lived behaviours, we can support you through:
• Acentia Culture Workshops
• Extended DISC Team Collaboration Sessions
• Feedback and One to One Frameworks
• Health and Safety Framework design including manuals, inductions, training, documentation and implementation reviews
We help you take the mystery out of culture and make it something you can actually build, not just talk about. If you want a workplace where trust is strong, communication is honest and people feel genuinely safe to bring their whole selves to work, get in touch. Let us help you Add Spice