Conversation starters for psychological health and safety

A leader’s role is to support the success of each of their team members and remove any obstacles or barriers that may interfere with their ability to do their job well. These questions help uncover both opportunities to support success and potential barriers that need to be removed.

Protecting and promoting psychological safety

There are hundreds of great icebreaker questions that can add to the enjoyment of any team gathering. Some are fun, some are nostalgic, some help you learn about people, and some evoke gratitude, goals or desires. 

The questions we’re sharing here are specifically to help you build a psychologically safer team. They’re based on the psychosocial factors described in Guarding Minds at Work (2009-2022) and the National Standard of Canada on Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (2013).

While these questions may add enjoyment, their purpose is deeper than that. Use them on a regular basis to help your team members feel safe speaking up, become more self-aware and improve team cohesion.

The art of asking questions and Facilitation tips for leaders can help you develop and refine your approach.  

Leading the discussion

The questions can be asked individually and privately, or as part of a team activity, depending on the level of trust and comfort among your team members. 

If you, as the team leader, answer each question first, you can add to the sense of safety. Showing your vulnerability can help increase the trust of your team members.

It’s important that you also prepare to receive and respond to the answers you will hear. To help you do that, we’ve included comments after some of the questions. For more detail about dealing with challenging responses, see the But what if the answer is… section on The art of asking questions page.

Demonstrate you understand the issues

Before you choose your questions, reflect on potential problems or concerns. If possible, state these before asking the question to show you recognize what people may be experiencing. For example, before asking “How have others helped when your workload was overwhelming?”, you might say, “We are in a time of staff shortages and high demands. You have all stepped up to help us meet our objectives and it has not gone unnoticed. We hope to be back to being fully staffed by [realistic date]. What I want you to share now is how others have helped you when you were overwhelmed at work. This is intended to recognize and appreciate those who quietly support each other on our team.”  

Avoid the mistake that some leaders make in an attempt to share commonality with their team members: aligning with them in blaming anything or anyone external to the team for the challenges being faced. It’s not that there never is an external source; it’s that by saying that something outside of the team has the power to make the team suffer, you’re creating a victim mentality and potentially demonstrating your own lack of power. This can make people feel angry, hopeless or dissatisfied with their work situation, even if they feel you’re on their side. 

By acknowledging that the situation is as it is and discussing how your team can best deal with it, you retain their respect for your leadership while being realistic about the limitations.

For example, imagine a corporate policy change has added more stress and work to your team. No one, including you, is happy about it, but there’s nothing that can be done to change it. Bring your team together to discuss what needs to be done in a way that avoids expressing negative or critical remarks about the decision-makers, even though it’s not what you would have chosen. You might say, “Here’s the situation; let’s all brainstorm ways we can manage this in the best way possible for our team.” 

Managing negative responses

Some leaders will hesitate to open up a conversation with their team about any topics that may become confrontational or emotional. If this is true for you, you can ask someone with stronger skills to manage the conversation. This could be anyone on your team, someone from another department, or an external consultant. If you’re interested in improving your skills in this area, check out Facilitation tips for leaders for strategies to deal with negativity, cynicism, unreasonable expectations or disruptive behaviours more effectively.

In all cases, use the responses to explore solutions with your team, or share what you already do or plan to do, to address the issues expressed. 

Potential questions

Feel free to use the questions as shown or use them to inspire questions even more relevant for your team. We’ve included comments below some questions to help you consider how to react to challenging responses. 

If you’re concerned about the response to any of these questions and want to take action to make meaningful changes, review the information in the Psychologically Safe Team Assessment list of strategies.

• When do you feel like speaking up about a concern at work would not be well received?
  • If no one has a response, or the only response is sarcasm, it could be because they always feel safe or it could be because they never do. If you feel the issue could be a lack of a safety, provide a way for them to anonymously share what needs to be different for them to feel safe to speak up. 
  • As a leader, sometimes you may need to accept responsibility for issues affecting your team, even if they’re not your fault. Acknowledge the issue, express your commitment to supporting change and ask for their help in making it better. For example, say, "I’m sorry speaking up doesn’t feel safe for everyone yet. I’m looking for your help to change that.”
• When might you feel unsafe on this team or any time at work?
  • If a team member implies you’re the reason they feel unsafe, it can be helpful to have a private conversation with them. At that time, you can ask, “What could I do differently that would better support your success at work?” Consider their suggestions and confirm those you’ll strive to do. 
• How do others on this team express their appreciation for your contribution? How would you know your contribution at work is valued by others on our team? 
  • If they respond with something like “It’s not” or “I don’t think anyone cares what I do” you could ask. “If someone were to value your contribution, how would you know that?” 
• What was your best team experience ever?
  • Listen to hear what matters to your team.
• What energizes you to do your best, even when you are not excited about the task?
  • If you have a team with low morale, they may be cynical or sarcastic. Some may express that they’re never excited about tasks at work. You could ask them “What would need to be different for you to feel supported to do your best at work?” Or “How could we make this a better team to be part of?”
• What skills or knowledge do you still want to build in your personal or work life?
  • Some team members may not want or feel the need to grow. They may feel it isn’t necessary or enjoyable. In that case you might ask, “If skill building isn’t what you want or need, are there other experiences at work that might be of interest to you?” This could refer to job shadowing, being part of a committee, planning social events or mentoring others. Growth and development doesn’t have to be related to training or education.  
• How do you respectfully handle differences of opinion – your own or between two co-workers?
  • If the response is that there is no respect in the way your team members interact, shift the question and say “What would a respectful way of handling differences of opinion look like?”
• If you were being bullied at work, how would you want witnesses to respond?
  • If bullying is an issue in your workplace, you may want to be familiar with Harassment and bullying prevention before having this conversation. 
• Can you share an example of when you supported someone at work recently? 
  • If no one or very few team members have an example, you may rephrase the question to ask “Can you instead share an example of when someone at work supported you? This may have been on a bad day or when you were overwhelmed with tasks.” If you still can’t get any responses, you might try asking “What type of support would be helpful from a co-worker if you were having a particularly challenging day?”
• How do you manage changes you don’t want or agree with, but have to deal with anyway?
  • If your team members have experienced a lot of change recently that they had no control or influence over, acknowledging this can be helpful. 
  • If you do not get responses to this question, you can share Coping with change or some of the ideas in Helping employees manage change. Once they have had a chance to review the ideas, try the question again. 
• What is the most significant challenge you face to getting your job done well?
  • Team members may express that a lack of resources, training, and tools is impacting their success at work. If budgets are tight, work with your team to brainstorm some low-cost or no-cost ideas to meet their needs. 
• If you were the head of this organization, what might you do differently?
  • You may also want to add that while you will pass on their suggestions, you may not have the authority to make them happen.
• How would you respond at work to humour that you find offensive?
  • Before asking this question, be aware of any organizational policies about humour, especially as it applies to discrimination, stigma and harassment.. 
• How have others helped when your workload was overwhelming?  
  • You are looking to share ideas for how we can be helpful to encourage others to lend a hand when needed. If you find that many feel overwhelmed all of the time, read Employee workload stress or share Workload stress with your team members. These can help go beyond a discussion to developing strategies that help reduce stress. How do you balance work and your personal life?
• How do you balance work and your personal life?
  • A team member may express that they don’t feel obligated to share aspects outside of work with you. That’s okay. Instead focus on how they balance their well-being at work by asking, “I respect your personal boundaries. There’s no pressure to share details about your personal life. As your leader, I want to work with you to ensure you have energy when you leave at the end of the day. How do you balance your energy at work?” 
• How would you describe our organizational culture? Think of the norms and values that are experienced at work, rather than any written words.
  
  • If team members express they feel disconnected from the organization’s culture, use Putting organizational culture on the agenda to help you take effective action. 

Share this with anyone who is a team leader or facilitates team discussions.

Additional resources

• Psychologically Safe Leader Assessment. This free resource helps leaders become aware of the impact they can have on the psychological health and safety of team members at work. It helps leaders improve communication, social intelligence, fairness and problem solving.
• Team activity — Mistake meetings. This team-building activity, which asks participants, including the leader, to ask for help or share how they handled mistakes, can help develop a sense of openness and trust amongst the team.
• Team agreement process. This process is used in collaboration with adult team members to develop their own agreement about how they will interact at work. It is intended to support a high-functioning, inclusive and psychologically safe team.