Embracing Errors for Growth: How Psychological Safety Fuels Learning-Rich Cultures
"Psychological safety is not about being nice or lowering performance standards, it's about giving candid feedback, openly admitting mistakes, and learning from them."
- Amy Edmondson
It's no secret that mistakes are part of learning—but why are errors so crucial? According to neuroscientist Andrew Huberman (Stanford School of Medicine) and organizational behavior scholar Amy Edmondson (Harvard Business School), our brains and organizations benefit when errors are openly explored rather than hidden.
Andrew Huberman explains that mistakes spark the neurochemicals (acetylcholine, epinephrine, and dopamine) needed for lasting changes in the brain—otherwise known as neuroplasticity.
Amy Edmondson, best known for her work on psychological safety, emphasizes that in a Learning Zone, people can share and examine failures without fear of negative repercussions.
When these insights are combined—error-driven neuroplasticity within a psychologically safe environment—we get an exceptionally powerful recipe for team innovation, rapid skill acquisition, and personal growth. This article explores how Huberman's science of neuroplasticity aligns with Edmondson's concept of the Learning Zone, offering a clear road map for building learning-rich cultures.
The Neuroscience of Making Errors
1. Why Mistakes Trigger Brain Changes
Huberman's core message is that mistakes aren't just an inconvenient "bump" on the path to mastery—they are anessentialsignal for the brain to rewire. In his podcast,The Huberman Lab, he details:
Alertness & Focus (Epinephrine, Acetylcholine): Making an error creates a surge of alertness. Your brain notices something is off and ramps up epinephrine ("adrenaline in the brain"), while acetylcholine acts like a "neural highlighter," zeroing in on exactly which connections need rewiring (neuroplasticity).
Reward of Small Wins (Dopamine): As you inch closer to the correct performance, dopamine is released to reinforce the circuits that worked. Over time, these "rewarded" circuits become more efficient, allowing you to improve.
Without the signal of errors, the brain lacks the neurochemical spark to reorganize itself. This is especially true for adults, whose brains are less "automatically plastic" than children's. Adults need to feel a little frustration to drive meaningful skill development.
2. Incremental Learning & High Stakes
Other key points from Huberman's research references:
Incremental Shifts: The adult brain learns best when challenges increase gradually. Rather than attempting dramatic improvements all at once (which can overwhelm our learning capacity), smaller, progressive challenges work better. This "just challenging enough" approach maintains the optimal level of productive frustration that keeps the brain engaged and signals the need for adaptation. Think of it as climbing a staircase rather than trying to leap to the top floor—each step is manageable while still moving you toward mastery.
High Stakes: If there's a powerful reason or urgency (e.g., meeting a critical deadline, solving a crucial bug before launch, or addressing a significant client need), neuroplasticity accelerates. The stronger the need to learn, the more vigorously the brain releases the chemical "cocktail" for rapid learning. Meaningful consequences—whether positive opportunities or important responsibilities—activate our brain's heightened learning state.
Psychological Safety: The Environmental Catalyst
1. Amy Edmondson's Learning Zone
Amy Edmondson's work on Team Psychological Safety highlights that people learn most effectively in environments where they feel secure taking risks and admitting mistakes. She calls this space the Learning Zone, contrasting it with:
Comfort Zone: High psychological safety but low accountability for performance, which can stifle growth because there's no pressing reason to stretch.
Anxiety Zone: High accountability but low psychological safety, which can cause people to hide mistakes rather than learn from them.
In the Learning Zone, team members are encouraged to speak up, share half-formed ideas, and be transparent about failures and mistakes. This environment is precisely what nurtures Huberman's error-driven plasticity; if employees are terrified to make mistakes or reveal their struggles, they can't tap into the powerful neural mechanisms that rewire their brains for improvement.
2. Permission to Fail (and Fix)
The hallmark of a psychologically safe environment is that errors are not met with shame or punishment but with curiosity. Leaders might ask:
"What led to this outcome?"
"What can we try next?"
"How can we all learn from this?"
When team members feel safe to dissect the "why" behind a failed product launch or a buggy code release, they collectively access a wealth of neuroplastic potential. Instead of associating mistakes with negative self-worth or retribution, they see errors as stepping stones to mastery—and their brains can rewire accordingly. This is precisely why leaders should actively cultivate an environment where discussing mistakes is the norm and expectation, not the exception.
Where Neuroscience & Workplace Culture Intersect
Safe-to-Fail Workflows
When you're creating, designing, or brainstorming, build in "safe experiments" - low-cost pilots that allow teams to test ideas without fear of failure. For instance, a product team might create a simplified prototype to test a new feature with a small group of users, focusing on gathering honest feedback rather than demonstrating perfection. This approach transforms potential failures into valuable data points before significant resources are invested.Feedback Loops
Quick, constructive feedback after an error keeps attention and motivation high. Tying partial successes to small dopamine hits (e.g., publicly acknowledging what did work, even if some parts failed) can reinforce the circuits that led to improvement. For instance, you could say: "The presentation structure you developed was extremely clear, and the data visualization effectively highlighted our key metrics. As we move forward, let's refine the recommendations section together. You've built an excellent foundation that gives us a great starting point for the next iteration." This kind of feedback acknowledges specific strengths while framing areas for improvement as collaborative next steps rather than failures.Scheduled "Error Audits"
Instead of rushing past mistakes, set up weekly or monthly sessions where the team discusses what went wrong in any project. This approach builds conversations about mistakes directly into the process, creating a sense of normalcy around error discussion. These sessions should be learning-oriented, not punitive. When facilitated empathetically, they transform errors into the raw material for innovation.
Practical Steps for Leaders
Model Mistake-Ownership
Leaders who openly acknowledge their own errors—and describe the lessons learned—signal to their teams that it's safe and welcome to do the same.Create Learning Bouts
Encourage working in focused "sprints" of 60-90 minutes - the optimal timeframe during which the brain can sustain intense focus and productivity before naturally needing a break - where employees dive into new tasks or skill-building. During these sprints:Expect mistakes to happen.
Celebrate the process of pinpointing errors.
Provide a Psychological and Social "Safe Harbor"
Make it clear that an employee's worth isn't tied to performance perfection.
Recognize effort and transparency as much as end results.
Follow Up with Rest and Reflection
Huberman emphasizes sleep and "Non-Sleep Deep Rest" (NSDR) for consolidating newly formed neural circuits. Encourage breaks, mindful transitions, or short "brain rest" intervals so that the rewiring can lock in.
The Bottom Line
Mistakes are not the enemy; they're the ignition for neuroplasticity.But without psychological safety—where it's okay to admit you messed up—those mistakes get buried or disguised, robbing individuals and teams of their learning opportunities.
Neuroscience offers the "why": Our brains need errors and the accompanying surge in attention-boosting neurochemicals to form new, stronger neural connections.
Psychological safety offers the "how": By creating an atmosphere of trust and openness, we can leverage mistakes as the powerful catalysts they are, accelerating both personal and organizational growth.
Ultimately, when you combine Amy Edmondson's Learning Zone with Andrew Huberman's error-driven neuroplasticity, you get a robust framework for performance improvement that is both human-centered and science-backed. In such a culture, challenges become invitations to learn rather than threats, and every mistake becomes a stepping stone toward higher skill, deeper collaboration, and enduring success.
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Want to dive deeper into building a culture of psychological safety? Explore more of our content below:
Psychological Safety: A Key Ingredient of High-Performance Teams (Part 1) [Podcast]
Psychological Safety: Mitigating the Power Differential (Part 2) [Podcast]
The Power (and Necessity) of Creating Psychological Safety [Blog]
The Power Differential Game [Video]
Do You Understand the Role of Transference in the Workplace? [Video]
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