Building Psychological Safety in Teacher Teams –

Lessons from Google’s Project Aristotle adapted for schools.

When Google set out to study what makes teams successful, it wasn’t looking at schools. It was trying to answer a question at the heart of organizational life: what really makes some teams perform better than others?

The project was called Project Aristotle, and its findings have become one of the most widely cited insights into teamwork in the last decade. For schools, where collaboration among teachers is central to improvement, the lessons are striking. They reveal that technical skills and intelligence are important—but they are not enough. What really makes teacher teams thrive is psychological safety.

What Was Project Aristotle?

In 2012, Google launched Project Aristotle, a multi-year research initiative named after Aristotle’s famous idea that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” The company wanted to build the perfect team.

Google’s researchers analyzed 180 teams across the company and reviewed hundreds of academic studies on team effectiveness. They tracked performance data, surveyed employees, and examined dozens of team dynamics—everything from how often teams socialized outside work to whether they had similar educational backgrounds.

At first, the findings were confusing. There was no consistent pattern in team composition. Teams filled with Ivy League graduates didn’t perform better than teams from state universities. Teams of introverts didn’t consistently outperform extroverts, and vice versa. Simply putting smart, skilled people together was not a guarantee of success.

Then the researchers noticed something critical: what mattered most was not who was on the team, but how the team worked together.

The Five Key Dynamics of Effective Teams

Project Aristotle identified five factors that consistently explained why some teams outperformed others:

1. Psychological Safety – Team members feel safe to take risks and be vulnerable in front of each other.

2. Dependability – Team members reliably complete work on time and meet expectations.

3. Structure and Clarity – Roles, goals, and plans are clearly defined.

4. Meaning – Work is personally important to team members.

5. Impact – Team members believe their work matters and contributes to a larger purpose.

Of these five, psychological safety was by far the most important. Without it, the other dynamics rarely took hold. With it, teams thrived.

Why This Matters for Schools

In schools, teacher teams are central to professional learning and improvement. Grade-level teams, subject departments, and cross-disciplinary committees are where decisions about curriculum, pedagogy, and student support are made. But too often, these teams struggle: conversations stay at the surface, disagreements are avoided, or dominant voices drown out quieter ones.

This is precisely where the lessons of Project Aristotle apply.

Psychological safety in teacher teams means teachers can admit when they are struggling without fear of judgment.

It means a new teacher can ask a “naïve” question without worrying about looking incompetent.

It means an experienced teacher can challenge a long-standing practice without being dismissed as disruptive.

When these conditions exist, teacher teams become spaces for real learning and innovation. Without them, they become procedural—meetings that go through the motions but change little.

What Psychological Safety Looks Like in Schools

Drawing from Project Aristotle’s insights and education research, here are ways psychological safety can be cultivated in teacher teams:

Normalize vulnerability – Leaders and senior teachers should model openness by sharing mistakes or areas they are working to improve. When leaders say, “I don’t have all the answers,” it signals to others that it is safe to admit uncertainty.

Encourage balanced participation – In effective Google teams, researchers found that everyone spoke roughly the same amount over time. Leaders can ensure teacher meetings are structured so that every voice is heard, not just the most confident ones.

Frame conflict as problem-solving, not personal attack – In psychologically safe environments, disagreements are reframed as a path to better solutions. Leaders can set norms such as “criticize ideas, not people.”

Create clarity and purpose – While psychological safety is the foundation, it works best when combined with structure and meaning. Teacher teams should know why they meet, what decisions they are responsible for, and how their work connects to student learning.

Celebrate contributions – Recognizing teachers for raising difficult questions, piloting new approaches, or offering fresh perspectives reinforces that risk-taking is valued.

Practical Steps for School Leaders

So how can a school leader apply these insights from Google?

Review your current team culture – Are teachers hesitant to speak up in meetings? Do some voices dominate? Do mistakes get punished rather than learned from?

Redesign meeting structures – Use protocols that ensure balanced talk time (for example, round-robin sharing or timed discussions).

Build in feedback loops – After a project or decision, ask teams to reflect: “What went well? What could we improve? Did everyone feel heard?”

Train leaders at all levels – Department heads, grade-level leaders, and even senior teachers need tools to facilitate psychological safety. Leadership is not just positional—it is cultural.

Measure it – Google used surveys to assess psychological safety. Schools can do the same by asking teachers anonymously whether they feel safe raising concerns, making mistakes, and speaking honestly.

Why This is Urgent

Teacher retention is one of the most pressing issues in education. Research shows that teachers leave not just because of pay or workload, but also because of culture—whether they feel supported, trusted, and valued. By cultivating psychological safety, leaders can create environments where teachers stay longer, collaborate better, and innovate more freely.

Just as Project Aristotle showed for Google, the secret to strong performance is not assembling the “perfect team” on paper. It is creating a culture where the people you already have can bring their full selves to the table.

Conclusion

Project Aristotle was designed to answer a corporate question: what makes the perfect team? But its insights resonate deeply in education. Great teacher teams are not built on credentials alone, but on trust, openness, and safety.

Psychological safety is the foundation of collaboration. For schools, this means teacher teams that innovate rather than stagnate, grow rather than retreat, and stay rather than leave.

If you want to learn how to apply the lessons of Project Aristotle to build stronger teacher teams in your school, contact the AG Nova team. We specialize in teacher-first leadership strategies that create psychological safety and unlock collaboration.