Right Kind of Wrong

Why this matters for psychological safety

A healthy attitude to risk and failure is a core element of psychological safety. It’s what allows teams to:

✔ Take smart risks
✔ Learn from setbacks
✔ Adapt quickly when things don’t go as planned

At the Fearless Organization Scan, Attitude to Risk & Failure is one of the four key domains we measure in both our Psychological Safety Index (PSI) and Enterprise PSI (EPSI) tools - alongside Open Conversation, Willingness to Help, and Inclusion & Diversity.

Edmondson’s insights in Right Kind of Wrong offer an important deepening of this domain: helping organizations not only recognize how failure is perceived, but how it can be reframed as a driver of learning, innovation, and trust.

How this connects to our work

We see Right Kind of Wrong as a natural extension of the work we do with The Fearless Organization Scan. It offers rich context to the quantitative data gathered through our tools - and supports leaders and teams in building a culture where failure is seen not as a threat, but as an opportunity for growth.

If you’re exploring this topic, there are several ways to go deeper:

• Measure psychological safety in your team or organization – Learn how your people perceive risk, learning, and openness using our validated PSI and EPSI instruments.
  
  
• Become a Certified Practitioner – If you're a coach, consultant, or HR professional, certification gives you the skills and tools to guide teams through the scan process - and the conversations that follow.
  
  
• Explore your own experience – Our free Personal Scan is a simple entry point to reflect on how safe you feel to take risks, speak up, and learn from mistakes.