CTO Craft Bytes: Psychological Safety in Remote Teams
I had the pleasure of joining Andy Skipper, James Sperring, and Michelle McDaid for a CTO Craft Bytes discussion on psychological safety in remote teams.
Psychological safety is often described as the ability to speak up without fear of negative consequences, but I think it goes deeper than that. It is not just about feeling safe enough to admit mistakes. It is about feeling safe enough to be honest, vulnerable, and fully human at work.
That matters in every team, but remote and distributed working adds extra complexity. When you are not sharing the same physical space, trust does not build by accident. You lose the casual conversations, the quick check-ins, and the small moments that help people understand and learn each other. Leaders and teams have to be much more intentional.
One of the things I spoke about was the different layers of psychological safety. You can feel safe in your immediate team, but not with your manager. You can trust your manager, but not the wider company. Those layers matter, because people do not just experience work through one relationship.
We also talked about how hard it can be to recognise when psychological safety is missing. Sometimes people experience the symptoms without having the language for it. They know they do not feel comfortable giving honest feedback, challenging decisions, or sharing what they really need, but they assume that is just “how work is”.
For me, feedback is one of the clearest indicators. If people do not feel safe enough to be honest about themselves, their colleagues, their managers, or the company, then something is missing. That does not mean every conversation should be easy. Psychological safety is not the same thing as comfort. In fact, sometimes the safest environments are the ones where difficult conversations can happen properly.
A theme I feel strongly about is the difference between being nice and being kind. Being nice can mean avoiding the issue, dancing around the truth, or prioritising short-term comfort. Being kind means being honest in a way that is fair, respectful, and useful. That matters hugely in leadership.
We also explored what it really means to “have someone’s back”. Sometimes that means advocating for them, protecting them, or challenging on their behalf. Sometimes it means having an honest conversation that is uncomfortable, but necessary. Both can be forms of care when they are done with respect.
Remote work also makes visibility harder. In an office, people may see the extra effort, the context, the informal moments. In remote teams, much of that disappears. That means leaders need to work harder to understand what is really going on for people, especially those who may already feel less visible or less safe speaking up.
This is particularly important for women and minorities in tech. When you already have to fight harder to be heard, remote work can make those dynamics more subtle and harder to challenge. Cultural differences, communication styles, and assumptions can all add another layer, especially in global teams.
During the discussion, we covered:
What psychological safety actually means in practice
Why it exists at team, manager, and company level
Why psychological safety is not the same as comfort
How remote work changes trust, visibility, and communication
The importance of honest feedback and follow-through
Cultural differences in distributed teams
Why leaders need to actively listen, not just create the appearance of listening
Rebuilding trust after uncertainty, restructuring, or difficult change
Supporting people through both visible and invisible struggles
One point that stayed with me was that support does not need to be perfect; it just needs to be human. When someone opens up, they do not always need the perfect answer. They need to know they have been heard, that their information will be handled respectfully, and that the person they trusted will follow through.
As someone who spends a lot of time thinking about leadership, empathy, culture, and inclusion in tech, this was a conversation I really enjoyed being part of.
You can watch the full discussion below.