The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety

Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation

By: Timothy R. Clark

Narrated by: Larry Herron

This audiobook is a practical guide that shows how leaders can build psychological safety in their organizations, creating an environment where employees feel included, fully engaged, and encouraged to contribute their best efforts and ideas.

Perhaps, the leader’s most challenging task is to increase intellectual friction while decreasing social friction. When this doesn’t happen and it becomes emotionally expensive to say what you truly think and feel, that lack of psychological safety triggers the self-censoring instinct, shuts down learning, and blocks collaboration and creativity.

Timothy R. Clark, a former CEO and Oxford-trained social scientist and organizational consultant, provides a research-based framework to help leaders transform their organizations into sanctuaries of inclusion and incubators of innovation.

When leaders cultivate psychological safety, teams and organizations progress through four successive stages. First, people feel included and accepted; then, they feel safe to learn, afterward they contribute, and finally, challenge the status quo.

Clark draws deeply on psychology, philosophy, social science, literature, and his own experiences to show how leaders can, and must, set the tone and model the ideal behaviors. As he says, “You either show the way or get in the way.”

This thoughtful and pragmatic book demonstrates that if you banish fear, install true performance-based accountability, and create a nurturing environment that allows people to be vulnerable as they learn and grow, they will perform beyond your expectations.

©2020 Timothy R. Clark (P)2020 Timothy R. Clark

THE message for our day: give respect to everyone simply because they have flesh and blood.

I gained a greater appreciation for the urgency, complexity, and simplicity of creating, modelling, and extending psychological safety to every human, in every nation, and in every interaction. Christianity teaches the second great commandment is to love others as one loves self. This book provides excellent insight and guidance to live that great commandment every day. It is a “how to” manual for us to consider and apply.

insightful and concrete!!

One of the most comprenhensive and practical sources of Psychological Security, useful for consulting purposes!!

Great ideas are found in this book

Seems all are common senses but if the ideas are being practiced your organisation will be a great place to work in

psychological safety impacts everyone

I've read the book 2 times and listened to it 4 times yet each time I discover new applications. bought 6 copies that I plan to give as gifts.

A true Safety Leader's Cliff Notes

As a behavioral safety professional with over 25 years of experience, Tim Clark gives real world examples that reflect almost every current work environment. Listening to your employees and empowering them to contribute towards safety culture excellence is a win-win for all.

I highly recommend this work

Best book I’ve read on this topic

This was the best narrated nonfiction/popular management book I have ever read. The narrator brought the content alive in a way that was so natural, it felt more like a TED talk than an audiobook.

I’ve read several books on this topic and Aimee at the same audience. This was the best. It was beautifully organized and easy to follow. I really appreciated the clear, concise text and simple personal anecdotes. I’ll be recommending it to my colleagues.

Fantastic, Simple, Well-Narrated

This is a great little book. In a little under five hours, you get the entire landscape of psychological safety, an initially squishy topic that has become, perhaps, the most important feature of building a great team. A lot of books spend too much time reviewing the research, or telling innane stories. This book does neither. There are stories, for sure, but they are crisp and helpful to the point being made.

The four stages are easy to remember and very powerful: inclusion safety, learner safety, contributor safety and challenger safety. You will understand these ideas and employ them into your life easily.

And the narration!! This voice actor, Larry Herron, is the best of the best. I've listened to a lot of audiobooks, and even narrated one myself, and I must say that Mr. Herron's work on this book hits all the right notes. He is never monotone, but nor is he cartoonish. He strikes the perfect balance to give you a narration that simultaneously fades into the background (it should never be *about* the narration) and keeps you interested. Great job Larry!

For anyone who builds teams at work or at play, read this book and practice its ideas.

A "diamond in the rough" among leadership books

I've read over 2 dozen books over the last 8 months on the topics of leadership, trust, communication, coaching, and mentoring. I stumbled across this book as a suggestion from Audible from the other books I had previously selected.

I figured it would be a beneficial book to read; however, I was unprepared for it to be such an insightful spotlight on an oft-overlooked aspect of modern leadership. If you enjoy leadership authors such as Sinek and Maxwell, you will appreciate the content of this book.

As an insatiable student of leadership, this book has easily found its way into my very small and exclusive collection of "favorite reads".

Me encantó este libro!!

Timothy Clark describe de una manera muy sencilla y contundente el camino para consolidar la seguridad psicológica en todo colectivo humano. Me sorprendió mucho la amplitud de su aplicación, más allá de las fronteras del ámbito organizacional. Muy recomendado.

one of the best book of the year

this is a great book on understanding psychological challenges in a corporate world. this is one of the best books I have listen to this year and it is #72 for 2020.