As a member of our Excellence Teaching staff, you play a vital role in shaping the emotional and interpersonal climate of your student team. While students may be highly capable and motivated, they will only thrive if they feel safe enough to speak up, share ideas, ask for help, and take interpersonal risks. Without this foundation of psychological safety, creativity stalls, feedback is withheld, and learning suffers.

In this interactive workshop, we will go beyond theory and explore what psychological safety feels like in practice and how its presence (or absence) impacts collaboration, performance, and personal growth. You will reflect on your own role as a mentor, coach or supervisor and develop greater awareness of the subtle ways your actions, tone, and presence can either foster or inhibit safety and trust within a team.

Together, we will explore practical tools to create an open, supportive, and accountable team culture. One in which students can challenge each other constructively, take initiative, and grow both personally and professionally. The topic will also be briefly connected to broader themes such as intercultural communication and student well-being, which are addressed further in other sessions.

During this session, you will learn to:

• Understand what psychological safety is and why it matters for learning and team success;
• Recognize common dynamics that affect safety in student teams;
• Reflect on your own role and how your actions impact team dynamics;
• Practice strategies to create trust, openness, healthy challenge and accountability in your teams.
   

When: Monday 09.02.2026, 09:30-12:30 hrs.

Where: EDLAB, Tapijn building X