Why Open Door Policies Fail and How to Build Psychological Safety at Work

Leaders who want to build high-performing teams often focus on strategy and execution, but the real differentiator is culture. If you want honest feedback, stronger ownership, and healthier communication on your team, you have to understand the difference between being accessible and being safe. In this episode, we break down why open-door policies fail and what it actually takes to create psychological safety at work that drives performance. Today on the Champion Forum podcast, we're talking aboutwhy your open-door policy might be failing you and what to do instead.

The Truth About Open Door Policies: Having an open door is not enough. If you want to create a culture where people are not only open to giving feedback but actively looking for opportunities to give you feedback, you have to ensure that you respond well. There is a difference between leaving the door open and leaving your heart open. Accessibility and psychological safety are not the same thing.

Q: Describe a leader who used an open-door policy. Did they prove that they meant it? How? Did people use it? Why or why not?

Three Habits That Shut Down Vertical Feedback

1.     Defensiveness

Instead of accepting your team member’s feedback, you start debating with them. You try to justify the policy or your actions. Most people do not want to debate their boss, so they will shut down and avoid the topic next time.

2.     Emotional Volatility You don’t have to be intimidating to be emotionally volatile. You might not yell or lecture, but if your body language shows that you are tense or impatient, your team will know it. Strong emotion makes people feel like they are on trial when all they wanted to do was give you information. They leave feeling blamed and will withhold information to avoid that feeling in the future.

3.     Fixing Instead of Listening Sometimes people don't need our mouth. They need our ears. But many leaders start trying to fix their employees’ problems before they even truly understand them. Furthermore, many people just want to be heard. You can make a lot more progress if you stop and ask questions instead of jumping straight to taking action.

Q: Which of these three habits do you think shuts down communication the most? Have you ever had a leader respond to your feedback in one of these ways? How did it affect you?

Three Things Strong Teams Do

1.     Bring up friction. Every team has friction, but healthy teams talk about it. If you do not hear about the friction on your team, it is because your team does not feel safe enough to share it with you. The key to creating a culture with the psychological safety necessary for a strong feedback culture is this: curiosity. You must want to discover problems more than you want to control your team’s image. You have to care about clarity over even your own leadership authority and reputation. You must focus first on managing your response, not the problem. You must choose composure over becoming defensive. When you choose to ask questions, you show people that you care and that you want to understand. You reduce their anxiety, and you make them realize that coming to you was the right choice.

2.     Reward candor. When somebody brings you difficult information, tell them you’re glad they made you aware of it and mean it. Every time you respond calmly to a hard truth, you are reinforcing a safe environment.

3.     Take Ownership Fear will choke out ownership. If you want your team to take ownership and have the freedom to make decisions, you have to create an environment that makes them feel safe. Otherwise, people will be passive to avoid rocking the boat and creating more trouble for themselves.

Q: What do you think it looks like to reward candor? Describe a leader you know who did this well or describe a way you try to do this for your team.

The Framework for Receiving Healthy Feedback

1.     Respond instead of react.

2.     Ask about the issue, not their competence.

3.     Follow up with gratitude when you’re calm.

Application Activity

This week, intentionally ask one team member for honest feedback about something specific. For example, ask, “What is one thing I do that makes your job harder?” When they respond, practice managing your body language and tone. Focus only on understanding. After the conversation, write down how you felt during the feedback and how you responded. Identify whether you were defensive, emotionally tense, or quick to fix. Within 48 hours, follow up with that team member. Thank them again for their honesty and share one action you will take based on what they said. This reinforces safety and shows that their voice matters.