The APS is bringing psychosocial and psychological safety – distinct but complementary concepts – under one umbrella in order to create the conditions for mental wellbeing within the public sector.
Against a backdrop of shifting global expectations around workplace wellbeing and institutional accountability, the conversations around psychological safety and psychosocial risk management have become central to modern leadership.
While the two concepts are often conflated or used interchangeably, they address different – but complementary – forms of risk. Psychological safety is about the interpersonal environment: can people raise concerns, admit mistakes or challenge decisions without fear of retribution?
Importantly, it isn’t about feeling comfortable all the time – we require a degree of pressure to learn, and are most likely to do so when there’s both high psychological safety and high accountability for performance and participation.
Psychosocial safety, however, involves mitigating hazards that may cause psychological harm, such as bullying, poor role clarity or excessive workload. While distinct concepts, psychological safety enables, among other things, better psychosocial risk identification and management.
When employees don’t feel safe to speak up, organisations can lose ideas, trust, integrity and performance – and they can also lose insight into concerning psychosocial risks that might be bubbling away under the surface.
The Australian Public Service (APS) is taking this challenge seriously. With more than 193,000 employees across 101 agencies and 588 locations, it is one of the nation’s most complex and scrutinised workforces. From service delivery to national security, the stakes are high, which is why psychological and psychosocial safety are seen as important aspects of our culture and essential for a thriving workplace.
In the latest edition of HRM Magazine, I wrote about ADDRESS: An APS model for responding to psychosocial hazards. This is a suite of guides and resources we’ve put in place to manage psychosocial risks beyond our legal obligations.
In this article, I will share how we are enabling a culture of psychological safety. In 2025, we are building a system-wide approach to both protect employee wellbeing and promote a culture where every voice is heard and supported. Here’s how.
Codifying cultural change: The 4Cs
At the APS, we refer to psychological safety as “speak up culture” and we see it as an important enabler of the APS’s integrity systems. Our approach to building a speak up culture in the APS was informed by the work of Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson, whose research links psychological safety to integrity, innovation, collaboration and high performance.
Our goal was to lay the groundwork to create environments where people feel comfortable raising issues, challenging unethical behaviour, learning from mistakes and celebrating successes. To help agencies cultivate a speak up culture, the APS introduced a behavioural framework known as the 4Cs:
- Listen with compassion
- Show curiosity
- Speak with candour
- Act with courage
These behaviours form the bedrock of the APS’s training and leadership development resources. The 4Cs are embedded into playbooks, team exercises and self-reflection tools designed to help managers and employees engage in open dialogue and continuous improvement.
The “Observe, Reflect, Act” tool, for example, helps employees, including leaders and managers, assess how these behaviours show up in team dynamics and provides guidance on where and how to improve. Rather than relying solely on policy, the APS is building capability from the inside out.
We want our people, especially leaders, to model these behaviours in real time. That means pausing when things aren’t going to plan and asking, ‘What are we missing?’ or ‘What could we do differently?’
It’s about showing vulnerability, inviting participation and using challenges as learning opportunities.
Leading the way – and learning from it
Leadership capability is at the centre of speak up culture. That’s why we have developed tailored leadership development programs, including a playbook to help managers build a speak up culture, and dedicated training on integrity, trust-building and inclusive decision-making.
This is part of a broader effort to help leaders recognise that tone from the top is only the beginning. True cultural change comes when leaders role model desired behaviours, create psychologically safe environments and respond constructively when issues arise.
Effective leaders are those who can build personal connection, show humility and create space for debate. They don’t just talk about values – they live them.
For example, imagine a leader is running a community service program and people aren’t quite clear on what you’re trying to achieve. This a perfect chance for the leader to role model speak up culture in action – and invite others in – by saying something like, “I might not have communicated that right. What could we have done better?”
Another example might be someone who is leading on a specific project. If they are working with a group of subject matter experts, saying something like, “It’s important that you all poke holes in my ideas and tell me where I might be making assumptions that aren’t correct. Your perspectives are really important here.”
“We want our people, especially leaders, to model these behaviours in real time. That means pausing when things aren’t going to plan and asking, ‘What are we missing?’ or ‘What could we do differently?’” – Jo Talbot FCPHR, First Assistant Commissioner, Workplace Reform and Diversity, Australian Public Service Commission
By role modelling this behaviour, leaders create a safe zone for others to come forward and share their thoughts.
Sharing ownership across the system
However, the responsibility for a speak up culture doesn’t sit solely with leaders. HR professionals, middle managers and employees all have a role to play.
HR leaders, in particular, are seen as cultural stewards – responsible not only for implementing frameworks, but also for building capability and confidence across the workforce. HR professionals can play a pivotal role in building a robust speak up culture by taking a multifaceted and evidence-based approach.
This begins with leading by example – building their own understanding of the 4Cs framework (curiosity, courage, candour, and compassion) and role modelling these behaviours within their teams and in interactions with colleagues.
HR can also champion the speak up initiative by actively promoting relevant resources, whether at an organisational level or within their immediate teams or branches. To embed the message further, they can look for opportunities to align existing tools and frameworks with the 4Cs language, reinforcing consistency across systems.
Finally, using data to identify cultural hot spots and highlight positive examples allows HR to ground their efforts in evidence, amplifying impact and ensuring continuous improvement.
A model for others to follow
For other HR leaders seeking to move beyond compliance, the APS offers a replicable model for system-wide change. It combines clear frameworks, behavioural tools and practical training – all underpinned by a shared commitment to building cultures of trust and performance.
The goal is to build workplaces where people feel safe to contribute, to challenge and to lead. That’s how we get better policy, better services and better outcomes – not just for our workforce, but for the broader Australian public.
Jo Talbot FCPHR is the First Assistant Commissioner, Workplace Reform and Diversity, Australian Public Service Commission, and Australia’s representative and vice chair on the Public Governance Committee at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and a government member of the Open Government Forum.
