Comfortable Enough to Innovate

Members of teams with high levels of psychological safety feel free to express ideas and opinions. This feeling of safety promotes creativity and innovation. However, little evidence exists that shows how best to facilitate or build psychological safety within teams, especially in an educational context. Scarlett Miller, professor of engineering design and industrial engineering and director of the Center for Research in Design and Innovation at The Pennsylvania State University, recently led a team of researchers that published a study on this topic in the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design. She discusses the impact of interventions aimed at improving psychological safety in engineering design student teams.