Your employees hesitate before sharing honest feedback. That's not a communication issue. You've got a culture problem, and it probably stems from how you think leadership should look.
Remember that scene in The White Lotus where the resort manager keeps plastering on a smile while everything falls apart around her? Even if you haven't seen the show, you've probably worked with this person: the leader so focused on maintaining control and appearing competent that they can't actually solve any of the real problems happening on their watch. That's what happens when leaders think they have to be stoic, relentless, and results-only. The old playbook creates exactly the kind of environment where people shut down.
Why This Actually Matters
Work has changed. Things move faster, teams are more diverse, challenges are more complex. Harvard Business Publishing found that supervisors who lead with emotional intelligence (EQ) create better work environments where people grow in their roles. They're hitting two goals at once: people are happier and healthier, and the work gets done at a high level.
This is especially true with diverse teams. When you've got people from different backgrounds and experiences, you need psychological safety to benefit from all that diversity. Otherwise, you're just collecting different perspectives and never hearing them.
The EQ Gap Nobody Talks About
Emotional intelligence is one of the most difficult skills we wrestle with in leadership positions. Harvard Business Review found that emotional intelligence is twice as important as other competencies in determining outstanding leadership. Daniel Goleman's research discovered that the most effective leaders all share one thing: a high degree of emotional intelligence.
Your IQ matters. Your technical skills matter. But those are just the price of entry. What separates great leaders from everyone else is how you understand and work with people.
Here's the thing about using tools like The Birkman Method: when you understand your own Needs (what motivates you) and Stress Behaviors (how you act when those needs aren't met), you can be more intentional about how you lead. And when your team members understand theirs too, you build psychological safety based on actual understanding of how each person works best. You're not guessing; you're working with real data about what makes people tick.
Finding Your Balance
We've all seen both extremes. The leader who's overly pushy, non-emotional, doesn't connect with anyone. And the "yes" person who never challenges their team to strive for the goal. Maybe you've caught yourself leaning too hard one way or the other.
Different situations call for different approaches, but the leaders who consistently get the best results can adapt while staying emotionally tuned in. You need strong communication skills, sure. But you also need to genuinely understand what makes each person on your team tick.
Finding that sweet spot is where magic happens. When you build strong connections with the people around you and establish relationships that push everyone to be better than they were before, you accomplish things you couldn't before.
So what does this look like day-to-day when you're leading a team?
What Psychological Safety Really Means
You've probably heard the term thrown around, but what does it mean when you're trying to lead a team day-to-day?
Google spent years looking at over 250 different factors to figure out what makes teams successful. Psychological safety mattered more than anything else.
Amy Edmondson from Harvard Business School puts it simply: it's "a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking." Can people speak up with ideas, questions, or concerns without worrying they'll get shot down or embarrassed? When you create that kind of environment, problem solving gets easier because people aren't holding back.
Think about your own team. Are people comfortable saying "I don't know" or "I messed up"? If not, you're missing out on insights that could solve problems faster.
You're the Model
You, as a leader, are the role model for the people around you. Life throws curveballs at everyone. How you respond sets the precedent. It's up to you to build the culture of support.
Here's what researchers at Harvard found: the leaders who create psychologically safe teams are willing to be vulnerable. They say things like "We're going to need all the ideas that you have" or "This is an incredibly challenging situation, and I need your input." These aren't just nice phrases. They completely change how a team operates because they give everyone else permission to be human too.
Take a step back and think: If something were to happen to me or someone I care about that might affect my work, how would I want to be treated, and how would I want people to show up for me?
The Skills That Make a Difference
The decision-making process we use today is complex. We need input from different perspectives and experiences. But you only get that input when people feel safe enough to share it.
It starts with listening. Really listening, not just waiting for your turn to talk. Are you picking up on what people aren't saying? Are you noticing the frustration or the excitement or the hesitation?
We need to get better at showing empathy in how we respond. You're working with people who have lives and feelings and bad days. Sometimes the best thing you can do is acknowledge that and respond accordingly.
Being transparent about mistakes is hard. Most of us were taught that leaders need to have all the answers. But when you're upfront about challenges and your own screw-ups, you model the behavior you want to see.
When you develop these communication skills, you create space for collaborative problem solving. People start to feel like their contributions matter, and that sense of purpose changes everything.
The Money Side
Empowering the people around you not only feels good, but has notable return on investment (ROI) impact. McKinsey found that businesses focusing on both human and financial capital performance saw employees 1.5 times more likely to remain high performing, with earnings volatility cut in half compared to the average company.
The numbers back this up. Teams led by managers with strong emotional intelligence beat their earnings goals by 20% in one major internal study done by PepsiCo.
When people feel psychologically safe, they stick around longer, they're more committed, and they go above and beyond. All of that directly impacts your bottom line.
Making It Real
45% of employees face stress or burnout every week according to SHRM. That's nearly half your team struggling just to get through the week. This is exactly why we need to rethink how we lead.
So how do you build psychological safety? Frame challenges as learning opportunities rather than tests. Share your own mistakes. When you say "I don't have all the answers," you give everyone else permission to be imperfect too. Ask real questions where you're genuinely curious. Create regular spaces where everyone can contribute. When failures happen, focus on what you're learning, not who's to blame.
Here's something that makes a real difference: when you help your team understand their own working styles and needs, everything else gets easier. Birkman shows you not just how someone appears on the surface, but what they need to thrive and how stress affects them. When your whole team has that shared language around needs and motivators, you're building psychological safety based on understanding how each person works best.
Where We Go From Here
The old command-and-control leadership style? It doesn't work anymore. Maybe it never really did.
Building trust and creating psychological safety aren't "soft skills" that distract from the real work. They are the real work. The best leaders I've seen aren't measured by what they accomplish alone, but by how they develop the people around them.
Think about this: What kind of environment are you creating? Do people on your team feel valued and heard? Because that's what human-centered leadership is about. It's not about being perfect or having all the answers. It's about creating the space where everyone can contribute, grow, and do work that matters.
If you're ready to take the next step in developing yourself and your team, start with self-awareness. The Birkman Method gives you and your team the insights you need to understand how you each show up, what you need to thrive, and how to build the kind of psychological safety that drives real results. When you understand yourself and your team at that level, everything else follows. The trust, communication, and performance.
Ready to be a more human-centered leader? Learn more about how Birkman can help you develop the emotional intelligence and self-awareness that great leaders need in our latest checklist.
