Question

What are the two team norms that are most important for psychological safety?
Team members do not disagree with each other in front of the team.
1. Team members are empathetic and understand each other's feelings.
2. Team members come from similar backgrounds.
3. Team members filter information so the team leader is not threatened.
4. All team members contribute about the same amount to conversations.

Answer 1

The best two are 1 and 4.

1 (empathy) builds trust and lets people show vulnerability without fear.
4 (roughly equal contribution) signals inclusiveness so quieter members feel safe to speak up.

By contrast, “not disagreeing in front of the team” and filtering information to protect the leader suppress honesty, and “similar backgrounds” isn’t required for safety (and can reduce useful diversity).