# Book review – The Psychological Safety Playbook

/ Published March 1, 2024

**Editor's Note: March is National Reading Month. Everyday reading increases knowledge and develops personal and professional skills. Throughout the month, DLA Disposition Services Pathways to Career Excellence program participants are sharing insights from books* they recently finished.**

****No official Defense Department endorsement implied.***

                Book cover                            Book cover            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Jeff LandenbergerVIRIN: 240226-D-D0441-0001The *Psychological Safety Playbook* is a powerful little book with enormous value and huge payoffs for those who want to be the kind of successful leader everyone wants to support and follow. Written by Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman, the book was easy to start and even easier to read. Helbig is an executive mindset coach with a doctorate in human genetics, and Norman is a leadership consultant with decades of experience in the tech sector. This book read like a small playbook a coach would hold in their hand during the big game while trying for a first – or even 31st – championship.

As a member of PaCE Group 46, I was selected with the expectation that I would aspire to be a future leader in DLA Disposition Services. Several months ago, while still at the Tucson property disposal site, I discovered a brief presentation on psychological safety within DLA’s Learning Management System. That led me to this book, which guides readers through how to create and maintain a culture of psychological safety. 

Google’s Project Aristotle studied hundreds of teams and found that the most important indicator of success was psychological safety. Starting with a strong action plan will help leaders produce the highest performing, most inclusive, insanely successful and innovative teams that everyone wants to be a part of. The information, lessons, exercises, and tips I learned from this book will help me lead whoever I am leading, no matter the size of the team. In reading this book, I learned how to be led, how to share, and how to value psychological safety in the workplace.

The authors have created a playbook divided into five major plays and their personal recommendations of the top 25 proven moves for leaders. Their playbook is based on Amy C. Edmondson’s definition of psychological safety, which is “a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes.” Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, has been researching psychological safety for decades. 

All plays and moves recommended by the book are self-contained, so a reader could start anywhere in the playbook and pick what they are most interested in learning more about to increase psychological safety in the workplace. While reading, I discovered personal development needs, created exercises to address, change, and track my progress, and developed a plan for future readiness and mastery of leadership qualities. 

Each of the five major plays begins with beneficial insights and simple stories to illuminate the skills people would need as a leader. Next, plays are broken into five different moves each, with focus areas like “Why to Try It” and “How to Do It.” 

Communicating with courage, mastering the art of listening, managing your reactions, embracing risk and failure, and designing inclusive rituals are the five keys to building a championship team. 

The *Psychological Safety Playbook* will help me create an environment where team members feel safe to contribute openly and take risks, as well as help me to build a culture where failure is viewed as an opportunity to learn, where innovation flourishes, where higher performance levels are reached, and where every team member is valued, respected, and accepted for who they are.

I enjoyed reading this book very much and wholeheartedly believe psychological safety in the workplace is a critical topic for DLA leaders to pursue.