Summary
Being forgiving and understanding helps people feel psychologically safe, but can there be too much of a good thing? New research suggests that excessive leniency, particularly when someone has done something seriously wrong, can actually undermine psychological safety. This episode looks at how leaders can balance understanding with accountability.
Transcript
Hello and welcome to episode 246 of the Leadership Today podcast, where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at why being too forgiving as a leader can make your team feel less safe.
Most leaders want to be understanding when people make mistakes. We recognise that people aren't perfect, that circumstances can be difficult, and that responding harshly to every problem isn't going to create a healthy working environment. But imagine someone on your team repeatedly behaves in a way that affects their colleagues. Perhaps they regularly miss important commitments, treat others disrespectfully or ignore agreed ways of working. You speak with them, but you're reluctant to impose consequences because you want to maintain a supportive environment. You might believe you're demonstrating understanding. But what are the other people in the team experiencing?
New research published in the Journal of Managerial Psychology examined the relationship between leader leniency, psychological safety and employee performance. The researchers found what psychologists call an inverted U-shaped relationship. Moderate levels of leniency were associated with greater psychological safety, but excessive leniency was associated with a reduction in those benefits.
Interestingly, the seriousness of the wrongdoing made a difference. When the behaviour was relatively minor, greater leniency tended to be associated with greater psychological safety. But when the wrongdoing was more serious, too much leniency appeared to undermine psychological safety. That's an important distinction because psychological safety is sometimes misunderstood as simply making people feel comfortable or protecting them from consequences. Psychological safety is about being able to speak up, ask questions, acknowledge mistakes and raise concerns without fear of interpersonal punishment or humiliation - that doesn't mean anything goes. When leaders fail to address serious problems, other employees may feel less safe. They might wonder whether their concerns will be taken seriously or whether the same standards apply to everyone.
Consider the difference between someone making an honest mistake while learning a new task and someone repeatedly behaving disrespectfully towards colleagues. In the first situation, a forgiving response can encourage learning. In the second, repeatedly overlooking the behaviour may send the message that the impact on others doesn't really matter.
Here are three things I'd suggest.
First, distinguish between mistakes and misconduct. When someone makes an honest mistake, particularly while learning or trying something new, respond with curiosity and support. Focus on what happened and what can be learned. But when behaviour involves repeated disregard for expectations or causes harm to others, a more direct accountability response may be needed.
Second, consider the impact of your response on the whole team. When you're deciding how to respond to someone's behaviour, it's natural to focus on that individual. But others are also affected by what happened and how you handle it. Ask yourself what your response communicates about the standards and expectations that apply across the team.
Third, combine understanding with clear expectations. Holding someone accountable doesn't require being harsh or humiliating them. You can listen to their perspective, recognise difficult circumstances and still be clear about what needs to change. Being compassionate and being consistent aren't mutually exclusive.
Bringing all of this together, psychological safety doesn't come from overlooking every mistake or avoiding every difficult conversation. It comes from people knowing they can learn from mistakes while also trusting that serious problems will be addressed.
Thanks for listening, and I look forward to speaking with you again next week.
Reference
Xu, J., & Cao, J. (2026). Is leniency always divine? Nonlinear consequences of leader leniency for follower psychological safety and job performance. Journal of Managerial Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-10-2025-1068
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