We talk a lot about resistance in this work, because it exists. There are leaders that won't engage, there are individuals in teams that that roll their eyes, and there are organisations that are "just not ready."

But in almost a decade of sitting in these rooms, that is rarely what I actually find. What I find, a lot more often, is fear wearing the costume of resistance.

Psychological safety is one of the most used phrases in people and culture conversations right now. Leaders talk about it in town halls. It appears in EDI strategies. HR Directors reference it in board reports. And yet, in most of the organisations I work with, it is largely absent.

So let me be precise about what psychological safety actually is, because the confusion around the term is itself part of the problem.