The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety

Bring The 4 Stages to your organization.

Developed by Oxford Social Scientist Dr. Timothy R. Clark, The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety™ turns ineffective teams into inclusive and innovative psychological safety practitioners.

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2026 Dates Available

The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety

Turn ineffective teams into inclusive and innovative psychological safety practitioners.

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The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety. A team’s toolkit for healthy culture and high performance.

The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety

Can I be my authentic self?

Inclusion safety satisfies the basic human need to connect and belong. In this stage worth precedes worthiness. All you have to do to qualify for inclusion safety is be human and harmless.

Can I grow?

Learner safety satisfies the basic human need to learn and grow. In this stage, fear is detached from mistakes, and mistakes are rewarded as part of the learning process. To qualify for learner safety you must engage in the learning process.

Can I create value?

Contributor safety satisfies the basic human need to make a difference and offer meaningful contributions. When we create contributor safety for others, we empower them with autonomy, guidance, and encouragement in exchange for effort and results.

Can I be candid about change?

Challenger safety satisfies the basic human need to make things better. When we create challenger safety, we give air cover (protection) in exchange for candor.

What you’ll learn. Learn the principles. Apply them with confidence.

Theory

Why inclusion is the foundation of innovation.

practice

How to prioritize humanity over human characteristics.

theory

Why learning is both intellectual and emotional.

practice

How to separate learning from failure.

theory

Why contribution affects belonging.

practice

How to balance autonomy and accountability.

theory

Why dissent creates social friction.

practice

How to challenge the status quo productively.

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From Theory to Practice:

What to expect

Turn engaging theory into actionable results.

With any learning style, LeaderFactor courses are designed to make measurable improvement in core skill areas.

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Action Plan

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Don't just run a great session, scale this work across leaders. You’ll leave with a repeatable process to diagnose what’s happening, equip managers with the right tools, and drive measurable behavior change across the organization.

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Choose your learning style. Deliver the world’s latest psychological safety course in a modality that works for you.

Half-day, virtual workshop

90-minute online course

Half-day, in-person workshop

Approach

Pre-work & digital workbook

Discovery-based learning sessions

Comprehensive behavioral guide

Personalized action plan

Ladder of Vulnerability™ Assessment

Explore the workbook. Pre-work, in-session reflection and tooling, assessment debriefs, and action planning all occur in one seamless interface.

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Discovery-based learning

The course agenda.

Humans Are Feeling Machines

Learn how to balance emotion and cognition in a dynamic work environment.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Discover why emotional intelligence is defined as your delivery system.

The 6 Domains of Emotional Intelligence

Explore an overview of Dr. Clark's 6 Domains of EQ framework, both your internal and external theaters.

Your Internal Theater: Self-Awareness

Understand why the ability to recognize your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors is the foundation of EQ.

Download the full sample agenda

Enhance your session with data. By measuring key dimensions of psychological safety before your session, PSindex™ provides a data-backed foundation for targeted learning and development.

Get a baseline. Benchmark your leaders’ psych safety levels before intervention.

Increase relevance. Pinpoint opportunities for growth in-session.

Measurable insights. Track progress and enhance action plans.

PSindex™ assessment

We paired a survey with your session to transform learning into action—because when you measure what matters, you can improve what matters.

Circular chart showing an Inclusion Safety Score of 38 with 57 in Blue Zone, 24 in Neutral Zone, and 19 in Red Zone, along with percentile and detailed zone values below.

The Signature Collection

EPIC Change & Transformation

Plan, execute, and reinforce a change initiative without muscling or smuggling the change.

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The 6 Domains of Emotional Intelligence

Develop a delivery system tuned to effective influence and positive impact.

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Coaching & Accountability Matrix™

Transfer ownership and accountability to accelerate the development of those you coach.

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DECIDER™ Decision Making

Turn haphazard choices into a structured, dynamic, and scalable decision-making process.

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The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety

Turn ineffective teams into inclusive and innovative psychological safety practitioners.

Explore

Keep learning. The largest psych safety resource library, free to explore.

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The Complete Guide to Psychological Safety

50 pages filled with actionable insights for your team and 15 shareable frameworks you can implement today.