A two-module online course helping front line supervisors at a municipal utilities organization recognize and respond to psychological safety risks.
Course completion rate
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End-to-end timeline
The Safety Institute needed to upskill over 200 front-line supervisors, scattered across multiple shifts and field sites; on the concept of psychological safety. Classroom delivery wasn't viable. The training had to be self-paced, accessible on any device, and meet AODA Level AA requirements.
The bigger challenge: "psychological safety" is abstract. Supervisors needed to see it in context: real situations, real decisions, not just read a definition and tick a box.
04 — Course Preview
An interactive preview — click through the lessons and try the knowledge checks below.
Introduction
This two-module course helps you — as a supervisor — understand what psychological safety is, why it matters for your team's performance, and what you can do on the job to build more of it.
You'll work through real scenarios, make decisions, and get immediate feedback. No trick questions — just realistic situations from workplaces like yours.
Define psychological safety and identify it in practice.
Approx. 20 minutes across two modules.
Scenarios, decision points, and a reflection activity.
Core Concepts
Psychological safety is the belief that you won't be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. Here's what it looks — and doesn't look — like on your team.
Team members raise concerns and ideas without fear of being dismissed or ridiculed.
Mistakes are treated as learning opportunities, not reasons for blame.
Team members feel comfortable admitting they don't know something.
Different opinions can be expressed without conflict becoming personal.
Scenario
Read the scenario below, then answer the knowledge check question.
"I noticed my crew has stopped bringing up problems in morning briefings. Last week one of them spotted a valve issue but didn't say anything until the end of shift. I'm worried something bigger could get missed."
⎇ Your decision
As Marcus's manager, what's the most effective first step?
Taking Action
Research by Amy Edmondson (Harvard) identifies specific behaviours that supervisors use to build — or unintentionally erode — psychological safety. Here are the four most impactful.
Admit your own mistakes and uncertainty openly. It signals it's safe for others to do the same.
Proactively invite input — especially from quieter team members. Silence isn't agreement.
Thank people for raising concerns even when the news isn't good. Punishment kills candour.
Let people know what happened with their input. Ignored suggestions stop coming.
🪞 Reflection
Think of a time a team member came to you with a concern or a mistake. How did you respond — and how might that response have shaped whether they'd do it again?
Completion
You've completed both modules of Psychological Safety at Work. Your completion has been recorded in your learning profile.
Completion Certificate
A two-module online course helping front line supervisors at a municipal utilities organization recognize and respond to psychological safety risks.
Discovery & SME interviews
Instructional design & storyboard
Visual design & prototype
Storyline build & accessibility audit
Scenario-based over slide-based
Built branching decision scenarios instead of information-dump slides, keeping content grounded in real situations supervisors face on shift.
Why: Research shows scenario-based learning increases knowledge retention by 40–60% versus passive content consumption.
WCAG 2.2 AA compliance from day one
Accessibility baked in at the design stage, not retrofitted — colour contrast, keyboard navigation, and alt text reviewed in every build iteration.
Why: The client's AODA obligations require AA compliance; building in from the start avoids costly remediation later.
Mobile-first layout
Designed for phone first — most supervisors access training between shifts on personal devices, not at a desk.
Why: Analytics from client's LMS showed 68% of completions were on mobile. Responsive layout was non-negotiable.
"Richard delivered something we could actually be proud of - and more importantly, something our supervisors actually completed. The scenarios felt real because they were based on our actual workplace situations."
— - Learning Manager, Municipal Safety Institute