---
id: "prereq-psychological-safety-d79"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["§ Where Trust Breaks Down", "§ Applying Psychological Safety Principles to AI Integration"]
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2026/02/how-to-foster-psychological-safety-when-ai-erodes-trust-on-your-team"
source_title: "How to Foster Psychological Safety When AI Erodes Trust on Your Team"
tags: ["organizational-behavior", "foundational-concept"]
related: ["concept-trust-ambiguity", "entity-amy-edmondson"]
reason: "The entire thesis relies on understanding that team performance requires an environment where members feel safe to speak up, which AI integration actively threatens."
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-cl-79-psychological-safety-ai-trust"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/02/how-to-foster-psychological-safety-when-ai-erodes-trust-on-your-team"
sourceTitle: "How to Foster Psychological Safety When AI Erodes Trust on Your Team"
---
# Psychological Safety

**Prerequisite concept.** The article assumes the reader understands **psychological safety** — the shared belief that a team is safe for **interpersonal risk-taking**, such as speaking up, asking questions, or admitting mistakes. The construct was defined and developed by co-author [[entity-amy-c-edmondson|Amy C. Edmondson]] (1999) and validated at scale by Google's Project Aristotle as the top predictor of team effectiveness.

**Why it's required.** The whole thesis rests on it: team performance requires an environment where members feel safe to speak up, and the authors argue AI **uniquely threatens** that safety — most directly through [[concept-trust-ambiguity]] (people stop challenging the AI *and* their own judgment). Leaders must therefore *actively rebuild* psychological safety during AI integration, which is the job of the [[framework-ai-integration-principles|four-pillar framework]].

**Enrichment:** Measurement typically uses Edmondson's 7-item psychological-safety scale — a likely starting point for the open question in [[question-measuring-ai-team-effectiveness]].


## Related across articles
- [[prereq-psychological-safety-d42]]
- [[prereq-psychological-safety-d78]]
- [[lit-psychological-safety]]