Coach Your Brains Out PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY - Motor Learning For Coaches
Feb 12, 2026
Andy Bass, a performance psychologist for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Casey Kreider, UMBC head coach known for culture-building, explore psychological safety in teams. They define what it is and is not. They discuss honest communication without weaponizing truth, behaviors that build safety, handling tough decisions and role clarity, and how safety boosts on-court learning.
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Guest Talk Turned Season Around
- Casey invited Andy to speak with his team during a rough stretch and they lost only one match afterward.
- Andy's conversation helped the players address performance anxiety and doubt.
Psychological Safety Predicts Team Success
- Psychological safety is the group's shared comfort to speak up, fail, and experiment without fear of "unnatural consequences."
- Amy Edmondson and Google's Project Aristotle found this was the most reliable predictor of team success.
Set Clear Boundaries Around Safety
- Avoid treating psychological safety as permission to say anything or to ignore consequences.
- Instead, tolerate dissent but set boundaries so risks remain calculated and respectful.