- Full Potential Zone
- Posts
- The One Thing Your Team Isn’t Saying Out Loud
The One Thing Your Team Isn’t Saying Out Loud
This one thing will make or break your team’s trust...
Justin Mecham
March 31, 2025
Hey Full Potential Zoners!
It is a HUGE red flag when your teams become silent.
Psychological safety isn't about comfort— it's about trust.
It's the feeling that your organization has your back.
Trusting you can be yourself at work.
Feeling safe to speak up without fear.
Believing your ideas and opinions matter.
Knowing mistakes won't be held against you.
First, an AMAZING opportunity from today’s sponsor - check it out! 👇
Here’s why you can’t miss this:
✅ Learn 30+ AI tools to completely transform the way you work, market and lead.
✅ Automate your workflows and reclaim 20+ hours a week (imagine no more burnout).
✅ Create an AI-powered version of YOU—a digital clone that handles the tedious work while you focus on what truly matters.
So don’t think twice, you have NOTHING to lose. Consider it a $0 investment that will yield value worth millions.
Trust doesn't start with policy—it starts with safety.
When people feel safe, they speak up.
And when people speak up, teams win together.
Today we are going to help leaders master this by using:
‘8 Pillars Of Psychological Safety'.
Let’s dive in!
Download This PDF + my Top 60+ Cheat Sheets At Bottom of Email
How Psychological Safety Works in Real Life
A Team Struggles to Give Feedback
Scenario: Team members stay silent during reviews. People worry that giving feedback will damage relationships or come off the wrong way.
Psychological Safety:
Set a team agreement that all feedback must be shared respectfully and focused on actions, not people.
Use a “Start, Stop, Continue” format to guide feedback in a safe, neutral way.
Have managers model asking for feedback and receiving it without defensiveness.
Scenario: A new employee has ideas but stays quiet in meetings, fearing they’ll be judged or dismissed.
Psychological Safety:
Ask for input in 1:1s before meetings, and then support them to share it live.
Highlight their idea during the meeting to build their confidence.
Publicly reinforce that different views are welcome, not risky.
Cross-Functional Teams Don’t Work Well Together
Scenario: People work in silos, don’t share resources, and avoid working with other teams.
Psychological Safety:
Create shared goals across departments.
Celebrate group wins—not just individual efforts.
Invite both teams to co-present their work to leadership.
Someone is Quietly Struggling with Burnout
Scenario: An employee’s performance is slipping, but they won’t open up. They’re afraid to seem weak.
Psychological Safety:
Normalize check-ins that include personal well-being, not just work updates.
Share stories of other team members who took breaks or adjusted workload and came back stronger.
Offer options without pressure—like flex hours or reduced deadlines.
A Team Is Afraid to Ask Questions
Scenario: People pretend to understand new changes, but in reality, they’re confused and falling behind.
Psychological Safety:
Start meetings by saying “there are no dumb questions” and mean it.
Have someone anonymously collect and ask questions on behalf of the group.
Build “learning time” into the week, so asking questions becomes expected.
High-Performers Feel Overlooked
Scenario: Team members are doing great work, but no one is recognizing it. Motivation is dropping and people are pulling back effort.
Psychological Safety:
Make recognition part of weekly team meetings—focus on how their work moved things forward.
Ask employees to highlight what they’re proud of each month.
Link praise to real outcomes, not just “hard work.”
Feedback Safety
At a company I was hired to consult with, a team had stopped giving each other direct feedback.
In meetings, people stayed quiet.
Outside of meetings, frustration built up.
When feedback was given, it was often reactive or personal.
Morale dropped, and performance followed.
I started by meeting with the team in small groups to understand what made feedback feel unsafe.
The top reason? Past feedback had been vague, unhelpful, or used as a weapon during reviews.
To reset the tone, I introduced three simple tools:
A shared team rule:
Feedback must be specific, timely, and tied to outcomes—not personality.
A “feedback script” that anyone could use:
“Here’s what I noticed, here’s why it matters, here’s a suggestion moving forward.”
A new habit:
Starting team meetings with one quick round of positive feedback before diving into tasks.
I also trained managers to regularly ask: "Is there anything I can do differently to help you succeed?".
This opened the door for upward feedback without pressure.
Within weeks, the silence broke.
People felt more confident sharing helpful feedback because they had a framework.
Conflicts got handled sooner, performance reviews stopped feeling like a surprise, and team trust improved.
Here's how you can make it real over the next 4 days:
Day 1 – Start a Conversation
Pick one pillar you want to improve. Then ask one person on your team a simple, meaningful question.
Example: “Is there anything I can do that would make things easier for you right now?”
It shows you’re open, listening, and not just checking boxes. It creates space for trust.
AI Prompt: “You are an expert in team trust. Give me 5 questions I can ask a teammate today to show I care about how they’re doing and what they need—without making it feel awkward or forced”.
Day 2 – Give Specific Recognition
Give someone direct, specific recognition tied to how they made a difference.
Example: “I really appreciated how you jumped in to help with the project timeline—your work kept us on track.”
People feel safer and more motivated when their value is seen and named.
AI Prompt: “You are a leadership coach. Help me write a short, sincere message to recognize someone’s recent work in a way that feels clear, personal, and encouraging. Here is what they did [insert here]”.
Day 3 – Invite a Hard Question
Ask your team (or a teammate), “Is there anything we don’t talk about enough?”
Then pause. Listen. Don’t rush to respond.
It signals that you’re open to real honesty—not just surface-level talk.
AI Prompt: “You are a workplace communication expert. What’s a good way to ask my team if there’s something we don’t talk about enough—so they feel safe to answer honestly?”.
Day 4 – Change One Small Habit
Pick one meeting or interaction and shift your normal behavior.
Examples: Pause longer after asking a question. Go last when sharing your opinion. Ask for feedback at the end.
Small changes in how you show up can make others feel safer to speak up and contribute.
AI Prompt: “You are a leadership strategist. Give me 5 small behavior shifts I can try in a meeting today to make others feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts or feedback”.
Psychological safety is not about comfort. It’s about trust.
Say what you mean, and mean it each time.
Recognize effort out loud, not just in your head.
Leave space for questions you didn’t think to ask.
Let people feel like they matter without needing to prove it.
It takes effort to create—but it costs far more to ignore.
Until next time and with lots of love,
Justin
This Week’s Growth Recommendations
Book To Read:
“The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups" by Daniel Coyle (see it here)
TED Talk to Watch
“Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe” by Simon Sinek (see it here)
I created an online version of my live cohort at a 94% lower cost!
🏆 Everything the live cohort has - just do it at your own pace
✔ 550+ Prompts for ANY Work/Life Situation
✔ Learn to Master ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot
✔ Results You’ll See Fast
✔ Yours for Life - Learn on Your Schedule
✔ Clear, Step-by-Step Execution
✔ No Confusion, No Guesswork
✔ No Tech Skills? No Problem.
✔ Save Hours, Cut Costs, Work Smarter
✅ AND SO MUCH MORE
👉 Every day without AI in your leadership is a missed opportunity.
👉 Check out the course I made that teaches ANYONE to be a design expert!
✅ Step-by-step modules to master:
✔️Infographics that stand out in the feed
✔️Cheat sheets that simplify complex ideas
✔️Carousels that drive massive engagement
✔️Quote images that get shared
✔️Lead magnets that attract the right audience & MUCH MORE
✅ PLUS 220+ Done-for-You Templates – Customize them in minutes and make them your own.
📑 Today’s PDF
Download today’s PDF by Clicking Here
📑 Justin’s Top 60+ Cheat Sheets
Download All 60+ PDFs by Clicking Here
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe and get my free eBook Click Here
Want to Sponsor this newsletter or a LinkedIn post? Click Here