You Can’t Coach a Team That Doesn’t Feel Safe

I’ve had leaders come to me frustrated. They’re doing all the right things—giving feedback, holding one-on-ones, setting clear expectations—but the team still feels stuck. Disengaged. Guarded.

And my first question is always the same:

“Does your team feel safe with you?”

Because you can’t coach someone who doesn’t trust you.

You can’t develop talent in a room where people are bracing for impact.

You can’t build accountability if people think honesty gets punished.

In healthcare, especially, we love to talk about performance. We track it, measure it, push for more of it. But performance without psychological safety is just pressure. It might get short-term results, but it won’t build a team that lasts.

The teams I’ve seen thrive—through chaos, turnover, and even crisis—had one thing in common: they trusted their leaders. They believed they could speak up. They believed mistakes would be addressed with care, not shame. They believed the goal was growth, not punishment.

Safety doesn’t mean we lower the bar. It means we create the kind of environment where people feel like they can actually reach it.

It means:

→ Leaders own their tone.

→ Feedback is two-way.

→ Mistakes are addressed without humiliation.

→ People are encouraged to question, clarify, and speak honestly.

If your team nods along in meetings but shuts down everywhere else, that’s not a culture problem—it’s a safety problem.

You don’t fix that with a new initiative. You fix it by how you show up—especially when things are hard.

If your team isn’t growing, communicating, or stepping up the way you know they can… it might be time to look inward first.

Let’s build leadership that people trust enough to grow under.

Ready to start that conversation? Click “Home,” then tap “Yes, I want that” to fill out our contact form. I’d love to hear what you’re navigating and how we can help.