Imagine this: A tester notices something odd in the code during review but stays quiet because "the senior dev probably knows what they're doing." Three weeks later, that issue caused a production outage. Sound familiar?

Here's the problem: Your team members see issues, have questions, and spot risks every single day. But they're not speaking up. Not because they don't care, but because they don't feel safe to! This silence is killing your team's potential.

In this talk, we'll explore why smart people stay silent (spoiler: noone wants to embarrass themselves). We'll do a live experiment where you'll experience the difference between working with and without psychological safety. I'll share three practical strategies you can use immediately: how asking questions to understand instead of giving answers to reply, transforms team dynamics, why leaders admitting mistakes first creates permission for others to do the same, and how blameless post-mortems turn failures into learning opportunities.

Your team has more potential than you realize. They just need to feel safe enough to show it

Preferred session duration: 25 minutes