Safety and Respect: The Foundation of People-First Culture
- Shenandoah Chefalo
- May 28
- 6 min read
Table of Contents
No other element of a people-first culture can exist without safety, and safety can’t be achieved without respect for our differences. Without safety and respect, we cannot access the other vital components and benefits of a people-first culture, like collaboration, honest communication, trust, accountability, authenticity, growth, community-building, and innovation. Safety is the cornerstone.
What Safety Really Means
Many of us think of safety (especially safety at work) in terms of physical protection – avoiding accidents, following protocols, and wearing protective equipment. While physical safety is fundamental, the concept extends far beyond protecting our bodies. Expand your idea of safety beyond the physical. Consider additional dimensions of safety, such as psychological safety. Do I feel capable and confident at work?
Safety is fundamentally about creating an environment where people can exist without fear of harm, and that harm can be physical, emotional, cultural, ethical, or financial. When someone feels unsafe, their nervous system activates protective responses that shut down their ability to think clearly, collaborate effectively, or take the creative risks that drive innovation.
Part of what makes safety particularly complex in workplace settings, is that it's individually defined. What feels safe to one person might feel threatening to another, based on their past experiences, cultural background, and personal triggers. Being in an objectively safe state is irrelevant if you don't feel safe. The feeling of safety or threat is what affects our bodies and drives our behavior.
Here is where safety and respect go hand in hand. When we approach safety with respect, honoring each person's complete humanity and treating their beliefs, behaviors, traditions, and preferences as inherently valuable, we create space for people to recognize and communicate their own safety needs.
Building a people-first culture starts with this foundational commitment to safety and respect. When we get this right, everything else becomes possible.
Safety vs. (Dis)comfort
One of the biggest misconceptions about creating safe workplaces is that safety means comfort. It doesn't. Discomfort should not be confused with danger, and the absence of comfort does not mean that you are unsafe. It is very possible to feel both safe and uncomfortable. In fact, this is often where our growth occurs.
Think about receiving constructive feedback. It might feel uncomfortable and even challenging or disorienting. But if delivered with respect and genuine care for your development, constructive feedback can foster incredible trust and deep personal growth. The difference lies in the intention behind the interaction, trust in the relationship, and the way it's communicated.
For example, if you are provided with feedback on ways you have harmed others, you may feel angry, guilty, and embarrassed, but it does not necessarily mean you are unsafe. Having your ideas challenged or your team holding you to a high standard of work is not unsafe, even though you may feel uncomfortable.
This distinction is crucial because organizations that conflate safety with comfort often avoid difficult conversations, skip accountability measures, and ultimately create environments where problems fester rather than being addressed.
What Safety Looks Like at Work
How do we know when we've created genuinely safe work environments? A safe workplace culture encourages open expression, trust, and collaboration. In this environment, you feel free to express humor, creativity, and challenges to the status quo without retaliation.
In safe workplaces, people can show up authentically. You don't have to hide critical parts of yourself to be accepted. You can share what you need to feel safe and know your team will respond with respect. Mistakes are treated as learning opportunities rather than character flaws. People feel comfortable raising concerns without fear of retaliation. There's space for diverse perspectives and approaches to problem-solving.
An unsafe workplace is constricted, dulled, critical, and petty. A safe workplace is flexible, creative, patient, and collaborative.
Often, people who work in people-first environments where safety is prioritized describe it as more of a feeling than a practice. When safety is present, you can feel it in the room. Conversations flow more freely. People build on each other's ideas rather than defending their own. Conflict, when it arises, is addressed directly but respectfully. There's an underlying trust that everyone is working toward shared goals.
An unsafe workplace is constricted, dulled, critical, and petty. A safe workplace is flexible, creative, patient, and collaborative.
The Neuroscience Behind Safety
Understanding why safety is so critical requires understanding how our brains work. Safety opens the door for honest, deep, and powerful conversations where we can access our executive functioning (where logic and reason reside – things we want at work!). When we are disconnected from our executive functioning skills, we tend to act impulsively, become emotionally unregulated, have brain fog, and stay stuck in present-day challenges.
When we feel unsafe, our brains prioritize survival over everything else; we act in self-preservation mode rather than collaboratively. The parts of our brain responsible for creative thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration essentially go offline. This isn't a character flaw! It’s biology. Our nervous systems are designed to protect us from perceived threats, even when those threats are psychological.
This is why organizations that prioritize safety often see improvements in productivity, innovation, and team cohesion. When people's nervous systems aren't constantly scanning for threats, they can direct their full attention and creativity toward their work.
Building Safety Through Respect
Respect builds the bridge between intent and impact. Respect means recognizing that each person brings their complete self to work – their experiences, their trauma, strengths, cultural backgrounds, learning styles, and communication preferences. It means understanding that what feels supportive to you might feel overwhelming to someone else, and vice versa.
Self-awareness can help us navigate through discomfort and build resilience. Notice your behavior. Take note of how your body is responding in times of discomfort. Ask yourself, "Am I safe right now? What do I need in this moment?"
Respectful workplaces encourage this kind of self-awareness. They create space for people to check in with themselves and communicate their needs. They recognize that everyone has a responsibility for both creating and maintaining safety. It's not just the leader's job or HR's job, but something we all participate in.
Further, it means in the moments we behave without awareness, we can offer understanding, repair with openness, and move forward.
The Ripple Effects of Safety and Respect
When organizations truly commit to safety and respect, the effects ripple out in powerful ways.
Teams become more resilient. They're better able to handle challenges, adapt to change, and support each other through difficult times. Innovation increases because people feel safe to take risks and share unconventional ideas. Retention improves because people want to stay in environments where they feel valued and secure.
Perhaps most importantly, when safety and respect become non-negotiable values, they create the foundation for all the other elements of a people-first culture. You can't have honest communication without safety. You can't have genuine collaboration without respect. You can't honor uniqueness without creating space for people to be themselves. And you can't sustain continual growth without the trust that comes from feeling safe to make mistakes and learn from them.
Making It Real in Your Workplace
Creating safety and respect are mostly about daily micro-interactions that either build or erode trust. It's about how you respond when someone makes a mistake, how you include different perspectives in decision-making, how you communicate during stressful times, and how you handle conflict.
Notice the dynamics in your own team or organization. Pay attention to who speaks up and who stays quiet. Look for patterns in how concerns are raised and addressed. Ask yourself, whose safety seems to be prioritized? How do we know? Do employees feel respected for who they are, not just what they produce?
Everyone plays a unique and critical role in creating safe, people-first cultures at work: individuals, teams, and leaders. Building a people-first culture starts with this foundational commitment to safety and respect. When we get this right, everything else becomes possible.
Get in touch with us to learn more about building a culture of safety in your workplace.
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