Working Better Together · After Session 2
What people learn from your reply
The moments when it’s hardest to make space for others may be the moments when it matters most.
Session 1 looked at the stories we add about other people. Session 2 turned it round: what do people experience from us, especially when the pressure is on? This takes that into an ordinary working week, and ends with one small thing to try.
- 1
Two replies
Raise a concern, hear two different answers, and notice what each one teaches you.
About 1 minute - 2
Your pressure shadow
Pick how your thinking tends to tighten, and see what others might experience.
1–2 minutes - 3
Small signals
Tap the moments you’ve seen in your team lately, and what they teach.
About 1 minute - 4
Set your experiment
One situation, one response, one thing to look for afterwards.
1–2 minutes
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Moment one · Two replies
Would you say it again?
You’re Robin, an HSE adviser. It’s the weekly workplace operations call. A floor refurbishment is behind schedule, twelve people are on the line and the agenda is already running over. You unmute:
“Just flagging — near-miss reports from reception and security have almost stopped since we moved to the new app.”
Here are two ways the project lead might reply. For each one, how likely would you be to raise the next concern?
Whatever you picked, notice that Robin’s concern was the same both times. The reply decided what happened next.
Reply A isn’t unkind — it even sounds positive. It’s someone under pressure creating pace. But everyone else on the call heard it too, and a drop in reports can mean people have stopped speaking up, not that there’s less to report. It rarely takes one big moment. Small replies like it, repeated, teach people that staying quiet is easier.
In Session 1 the question was what story we add about someone. Here it’s what they learn from how we respond.
Answer for both replies — there’s no right answer.
Moment two · Your pressure shadow
When the pressure is on
Under pressure, our thinking can tighten. It’s a possible response, not an inevitable one. Which one or two do you recognise in yourself?
Pick one or two.
These aren’t faults. Speed, clarity and focus are often exactly what a moment needs. The risk comes when the situation needs new information or challenge — and people share less at the very moment you most need to hear them.
Pick at least one to carry on.
Moment three · Small signals
What your team has learned
Think about your team over the last month. Tap each of these you’ve seen happen — by anyone, including you.
0 tapped
Psychological safety is shaped by what people expect will happen when they speak. Nobody decides that alone. These are patterns a team creates together — so the aim isn’t to find who’s causing the problem, but to notice what the patterns make easier or harder.
Tap at least three to carry on.
Moment four · Your experiment
One small thing, next time
Pick a moment when the pressure tends to rise, one thing you’ll do differently, and what you’ll look for afterwards. Keep it small enough to actually do.
or in your own words
or in your own words
Your experiment so far
When …, I’ll … Then I’ll tell my partner what happened.
Choose a moment and a response — or write your own — to carry on.
That’s it
Your experiment is set
Treat this as an experiment, not a test. Try it once, notice what changes in the room, and tell your partner what happened. Some days the pressure will win. Noticing that it did still counts.
One honest limit: psychological safety doesn’t mean lowering standards or avoiding hard conversations. The mistake still matters and the risk still needs addressing. It just means people can bring them to you early. And some patterns belong to the team, not only to you — they’re worth raising too.
One question to carry
What do people learn from how you respond when the pressure is on?
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