Events

Another Connecting the Dots session. Another room that did something real.

This time, the focus was psychological safety. One of those concepts that's everywhere in leadership conversations and frustratingly absent in most actual team cultures.

Our facilitators, Irene Grastveit, Annie Hjelmervik, and Anders Instebø, guided participants through something more than a workshop. It was a practice session. A space where the theory had to be tested in the room itself.

From concept to practice

The session opened with a simple question: what does it actually mean to feel safe in a team? Not safe from criticism. Safe to offer a half-formed idea, ask a basic question, or disagree with the person in the room who has the most authority.

That distinction matters. Psychological safety isn't about comfort. It's about trust. About knowing that taking a risk won't cost you your standing in the group. Participants reflected honestly on their own experience of that, and many found it more complicated than they'd expected.

What the exercises surfaced

The interactive elements pushed people to move from reflection into action. Recognising our own need for safety. Practising deep empathy with others in the room. Trying, in small ways, to model the kind of environment they wanted to belong to.

What struck us was how quickly real connections formed. People who'd arrived as strangers or professional acquaintances found themselves in genuinely honest exchanges. That's what a well-designed session can do, when the facilitation creates the right conditions.

The question we're still sitting with

What does it take to build psychological safety in a team that doesn't naturally have it?

Not a one-day answer. But a great question to leave a room with.

We're grateful to everyone who showed up with openness, and to Rune Todnem By, Solveig Wiik, and all the participants who brought such thoughtful energy.