“Because my team disagree with me on a daily basis” the role of servant leadership in fostering psychological safety in a social care organisation

Purpose Psychological safety is coming under increased scrutiny as a concept that can help improve outcomes for service users in health and social care settings by improving the willingness of employees to speak up, by involving them in decision-making, sharing knowledge and engaging in innovative practices based on the shared belief that it is safe to do so without risk of consequences. The aim of this study, is to examine the role of servant leadership in developing psychological safety in a social care organisation. Design/methodology/approach The methodological approach used for this study was a cross sectional, qualitative inquiry, with semi-structured interviews (n = 8), using a purposive sample. Codes were extracted from the data and analysed using content analysis. Findings The results illustrate how providing servant leadership training to an entire organisation may help to foster psychological safety. Findings are discussed across three themes; 1) experience of servant leadership training; 2) examples of cultivating psychological safety; 3) the role of power in developing psychologically safe organisations. The findings provide information on how servant leadership training can support leaders in developing the skills and insight to engage in minimising power distance, and by involving employees in shared decision-making through the flattening of hierarchies, in addition to feeling psychologically safe when giving and receiving feedback about work practices. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to examine how delivering servant leadership training can help foster psychological safety in a social care organisation. Findings are discussed with implications for practice, training and future research.