All core values
Trust
Psychological safety
Making it safe to say the awkward thing, ask the basic question, or admit the mistake — before it becomes a crisis.
Behaviors
- Responds to bad news with curiosity, not blame
- Admits their own mistakes first
- Separates the person from the failure
Anti-patterns
- Public blame for honest mistakes
- Punishing the messenger
- Silence in meetings, real opinions in hallways
Reinforce it with
- Blameless post-mortems
- Leaders modeling visible failure
- Norms that protect dissent in the room it happens
Psychological safety is the precondition every other value depends on.