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When COVID-19 hit, our business came to a sudden halt. One moment our calendar was full, the next, meetings and engagements were disappearing. Companies wed worked with for years shifted their focus overnight, pouring their energy into keeping doors open and team members safe. Like so many others, we found ourselves sidelinedand facing some hard conversations. While uncertainty hung heavy in the air, our small team was unusually open with each other. We talked candidly about the challenges, the personal toll, and what it might all mean for the business. Without setting out to do so, we had built a foundation of psychological safetyone that made navigating a global crisis far less stressful than it might have been otherwise. We questioned our plans, admitted what we didnt know, and challenged each other with care. And in doing so, we learned something thats shaped how I work ever since: Psychological safety isnt a climate to be fostered when things are easy; its an operating condition that must be designed into the teams DNA for when things get hard. The true test isnt harmony, its conflict. Its about making it safe enough for people to be uncomfortableto disagree, to challenge the status quo, and to admit when theyve failed. Gartner found that highly psychologically safe teams identify and address critical issues 15% faster. And while many people understand the concept, far fewer know how to make it real when trust declines and tension rises. Too often, its treated as a passive state instead of an active practice. The difference between the two is simple: A climate is a vibe, but an operating condition is a blueprint. So, how do you move from a vague aspiration to a daily practice? It all starts with putting psychological safety first. Whether or not you manage people, each of us influences how safe it feels to speak up. Here are three ways to embed psychological safety into daily work, at any level: MAKE DISAGREEMENT PART OF NORMAL WORK Psychological safety has to be embedded into the way work gets done, not just something you hope people embody. That responsibility doesnt sit solely with managers. Anyone can help shape norms around how ideas are challenged, discussed, and improved. When I start working with someone new, I hold a candid one-on-one conversation to set mutual expectations. I might say, My promise to you is transparency and a willingness to provide proactive feedback. You can also expect me to ask for your ideas and input on every major decision. Then I turn it over to them and ask, What do you need from me to feel successful and able to do your best work? This simple act changes the dynamic, communicating that their voice matters from the outset. Once expectations are clear, safety can be operationalized through everyday rituals. For example, instead of presenting a plan for approval, introduce a new idea by asking people to poke holes in it. This isnt an invitation to complain, but a specific, constructive task. People are naturally good at identifying risks and blind spots, and this reframes that critical eye as a valuable contribution. Even without formal authority, you can model this by asking better questions in meetings, inviting alternative perspectives, or naming risks others may be hesitant to raise. SHIFT FROM ANSWERING TO FACILITATING Even with the best intentions, our behaviors can unintentionally undermine psychological safety. One of the most common mistakes is jumping in too quickly to solve a problem. Many of usespecially those seen as experienced or go-to peopleare conditioned to have the answers. When someone brings a challenge, the impulse is to immediately provide a solution. But doing so can unintentionally signal, My ideas are more valuable than yours. The fix? Instead of being the problem-solver, become the problem-solving facilitator. Your opportunity, regardless of role, is to create space for dialogue rather than rushing to be the smartest voice in the room. When someone raises a concern, try asking a question instead of offering a solution. It signals curiosity, respect, and trust. Facilitation also means reading the room: paying attention to whats being said and what isnt. You might say, I can sense this decision is making you uncomfortable. Lets talk about whats behind that. Or, Lets consider this from all angles. What might be missing? These moments of curiosity build trust and surface insights that wouldnt emerge in a more top-down exchange. Over time, this changes the dynamic from quiet compliance to shared ownership. USE FAILURE TO FUEL LEARNING One of the fastest ways psychological safety breaks down is when we cant learn from our mistakes. After any project or experimentsuccessful or notI incorporate a simple set of questions into debriefs: Whats working? Whats not working? What did we learn? What would we do differently next time? This shifts the focus from blame to learning and makes reflection a core output, not an afterthought. Even when youre not running the meeting, you can reinforce this mindset by asking these questions yourself and inviting others into reflection. When failures are treated as data rather than personal shortcomings, people stop hiding missteps and start sharing insights that make everyone better. When psychological safety becomes a baseline operating condition, new possibilities open up. People take calculated risks because they know their ideas are valued and that missteps wont be punished, but used for learning. The team moves faster, decisions get stronger, and accountability becomes shared instead of feared.
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E-Commerce
If you live in Seattle and work at Amazon or Meta in nearby Bellevue, you probably drive to work. But by the end of next month there will be another option for commuters: the worlds first light rail line running on a floating bridge. Right now, drivers cross Lake Washingtonthe long lake between Seattle and eastern suburbs like Bellevueuse one of three floating bridges. Conventional bridges arent feasible because of the depth and width of the lake, which is why the bridges were originally built with pontoons instead. Adding a rail line to one of them meant that designers needed to innovate in multiple ways. A 4-car train crosses the I-90 floating bridge during the day on December 18, 2025. [Photo: Sound Transit] First, since the bridge doesnt have columns like a typical bridge, it moves. Its like a ship thats been anchored to the floor of the lake, says Brian Holloway, deputy director of engineering oversight at Sound Transit, the local transit agency. Near each end of the bridge, where the floating section connects to fixed parts of the bridge over land, hinge-like expansion joints let the bridge move as the water level changes or wind and waves slightly shift the structure. Driving over the bridge in a car, you dont notice the changes as the expansion joints move. But those geometric changes would have a very significant effect on rail, says Matthew Barber, a supervising engineer working on the project at WSP. To make light rail feasible, engineers designed a new solution: track bridges that support a section of rail on a structure with bearings that let the bridge move freely while keeping the rail steady. The rail bends in a very smooth way, Barber says. Workers prepare forms and pour concrete for the light rail track plinths on the I-90 floating bridge for the 2 Line Link connection to Seattle on September 4, 2024. [Photo: Sound Transit] The bearings are normally used in seismic retrofits in buildings. Almost all the pieces on the floating bridge are not unique, says Holloway. They’re just being assembled in a different way. Weight was another challenge, since the pontoons that float the bridge werent designed to hold light rail. To help with that, the design uses thousands of ultra-lightweight concrete blocks to support the rail, using a mix developed and tested in a partnership with the University of Washington. The rail itself is a little shorter and lighter than typical rail to save more weight. When the rail was installedreplacing a former carpool lanethe team also removed a heavy concrete barrier at the edge of the former lane. All of this meant that the bridge could handle the extra weight. An unpowered LRV is pushed and then towed across the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge (I-90). [Photo: Sound Transit] On a normal bridge, installing rail would normally involve drilling, but the team didnt want to risk drilling into the pontoons, which have to stay watertight. Instead, they used a special high-strength adhesive to attach the concrete blocks to the bridge. Since the bridge hadnt originally been designed to carry electric light rail, engineers had to also find a way to protect it from stray current that could potentially damage the structure. The design now has multiple redundant solutions to avoid that risk. The setting is unusual, since floating bridges are only used in specific conditions. (Norway’s fjords, for example, could potentially also use floating bridges.) But it’s possible that the design solutions could eventually be replicated in some other areas, including another bridge across Lake Washington in Seattle. The Mercer Island 2 Line Station on October 22, 2024. [Photo: Sound Transit] Even beyond the floating bridge, the new seven-mile stretch of light railfrom downtown Seattle to the southern end of Bellevuerequired several creative new solutions. That included finding a new way to strengthen an overpass for earthquake safety, and reusing part of a former bridge to create access to a new train station in one neighborhood. Every inch of the seven miles has examples of never-been-done-before, creative, resourceful designs, Barber says. (All of this should go unnoticed by users, like any good civil engineering.) On a recent test ride, he says that going over the bridge was some of the smoothest track Ive ever experienced, as a daily commuter on light rail. The test ride was at night, so there wasnt much traffic on the neighboring highway. A dead car pull on the East Link Extension between Bellevue and Mercer Island across the East Channel Bridge on October 29, 2024. [Photo: Sound Transit] But he imagined it at rush hour. Tens of thousands of people are expected to ride the train daily, eliminating an estimated 230,000 vehicle miles traveled per day. It was cool to be cruising along next to the cars, he says. And I can anticipate that when this opens, there will be lots of commuters on the train who will be zooming past folks who are stuck in traffic in a very satisfied way.
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E-Commerce
Last week, a new piece of public art appeared outside of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) headquarters, located in Romes Piazza Lauro de Bosis. The graffiti centers an image of an Olympic ski jumper sailing through the air, while, from below, an ICE agent in a tactical vest points a gun directly at the jumpers heart. Above the scene, the Olympic Rings are featured, with a twist: the red ring has been reimagined as the bleeding crosshairs of a deadly weapon. View this post on Instagram The art was created by Laika, a self-described activist and graffiti artist based in Rome. In an interview with the publication ANSA English, she explained that the art was an act of protest in the wake of an announcement from U.S. officials that Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officers would be part of the American security detail at the Olympics. The announcement came just weeks after ICE agents shot and killed Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti amidst ongoing protests in that city. Reports that ICE agents would appear at the Olympics surfaced in late January, and were met with confusion, outrage, and wide-spread protests from Italian citizens. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security clarified in a statement to the AP on January 26 that the agents in question would not be part of ICEs immigration enforcement operations, but rather from its Homeland Security Investigations branch, which frequently travels overseas to events like the Olympics to assist with security. Still, Italian citizens and Olympic attendees are continuing to speak out against ICE in solidarity with both the people of Minnesota and Americans at large. Laika is one of many Italian citizens who have taken to using artwork as a form of protest against ICEs presence at the Olympics. Here are three examples of the most powerful work so far. View this post on Instagram No ICE in Milano On January 31, hundreds of protesors gathered in Milans Piazza XXV Aprile (a central square) to voice their dissent against ICE. In the crowd, dozens of people held aloft the same sign: an image of the Olympic Rings, reimagined as colorful handcuffs, captioned with the phrase, No ICE in Milano. The signs appear to have been designed and distributed by the group I Sentenilli di Milano, an organization dedicated to supporting the queer community and advocating against fascism. The disturbing images coming from the United States add to the horror of other places in the world where human rights have been trampled on, the organizers wrote in a caption on Instagram, adding, That’s why the Sentinelli with many other democratic realities are waiting for you in the square on Saturday. Come with a whistle. At the protest, another organizer named Alessandro Capella, head of the Italian Democratic Party’s Milan chapter, told NPR, “It’s not just for the Olympic games, it’s about justice in the world. We don’t want ICE here. View this post on Instagram ICE OUT! Just a week afer the January 31 protest, hundreds of people once again took to the streets of Milan in an anti-ICE protest on February 6. Among them was Laika, who captioned an Instagram post of her graffiti with a call for followers to attend the gathering. ICE OUT! the caption begins. With the Trump’s Gestapo at the Milan-Cortina Games, fundamental values of the Olympic Charter are being killed, such as solidarity and the fight against discrimination, values that affirm the principle that sport is at the service of the harmonious development of man, to promote the advent of a peaceful society committed to defending human dignity. Laika is using her art as a direct call-out to CONI and International Olympic Committee (IOC) for failing to bar ICE agents from attending the Olympics. “It angers me that the IOC and CONI have not taken a clear position consistent with their values, but have looked the other way, downplaying the issue as the exclusive responsibility of states and governments, she told ANSA English. “Today, the entire world of sport, and beyond, is raising its voice: there is no room for racism, violence, or those who threaten democracy. ICE Donald Trump mural by artist aleXsandro Palombo. [Courtesy: aleXsandro Palombo] Donald Trump as an ICE agent Amidst the recent protests in Milan, another artist has added his own mural to the heart of the city, just minutes away from the Olympic cauldron at the Arco della Pace. The graffiti, created by Italian pop artist aleXsandro Palombo, depicts President Trump in his quintessential blue suit, wearing a red hat with the phrase ICE and a tactical vest reading POLICE ICE. In his hands, hes brandishing the Olympic Rings like a weapon. The concept for the mural, Palombo says, came from the gap between the Olympics imagined world without barriers and the contemporary reality made of borders, controls, and exclusions. The Olympic rings represent the last great shared utopia, the idea that humanity can recognize itself as a single community, Palombo says. The ICE uniform instead evokes the mechanisms that decide who may move, who may remain, who may be seen. Bringing these symbols together reveals the contradiction between the ideal and the real. The physical placement of the mural brings these themes into sharper focus. Palombo chose the Bastioni di Porta Volta as the site of his work, a historic shelter formerly used by public transport staff, which has recently become an improvised refuge for many unhoused migrants. On one side of the building, he explains, is an athletic celebration of universal brotherhood, while on the other are the invisible lives of those without documents, without voice, without recognized rights. He hopes that the work will bring these inherent contradictions to the surface of discussions around the Olympics, while also paying tribute to the American athletes who have chosen to speak out against ICE. Within this visual tension there is also an implicit tribute to those, like many American athletes, who have chosen to use their visibility to speak out against what is broken, Palombo says. Their gesture is not only political, it is an act of responsibility toward freedom of expression. It is proof that the America we admire still exists, one willing to show itself, to take risks, to defend what is right. The message of the work is that every image of power carries responsibility, and that every symbol, even the brightest one, casts a shadow.
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E-Commerce
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