15%
Reduction in unwanted project delays
Powering Innovation and Collaboration Through a Positive Error Culture: Building Psychological Safety at Scale
Industry: Life Sciences
Service: People and Organization
Service: R&d and Product Development
Service: R&d and Product Profitability
Our Client
A global leader in medical technology, renowned for developing innovative solutions, the company supports healthcare professionals in early detection, diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment.
The Challenge
Cultural issues within the organization had created significant operational barriers to innovation and efficiency.
- Blame-focused environment: When issues arose, management focused on finding who was at fault rather than addressing root causes, causing teams to hide mistakes instead of solving them collaboratively
- Risk-averse decision-making: With patient safety paramount, taking responsibility had historically been hampered by a fear of blame, causing considerable delays in decision-making and limiting smart risk-taking, essential for R&D innovation
- Cross-functional silos: The error culture was initially confined to R&D management, but organizational changes revealed that cultural transformation could not succeed without engaging manufacturing, quality, regulatory affairs, PMO and procurement teams
Real Results Achieved Together
The transformation from a blame-focused to a psychologically safe culture fundamentally changed how teams within the organization chose to collaborate and innovate. By establishing error culture ambassadors across functions and hierarchy levels, the organization also built sustainable processes for continuous improvement.
30%
Reduction in quality-related costs over product lifecycle
+90
Employees trained as culture ambassadors
Transformation Impact
- Enabled early detection and correction of issues through open communication
- Shifted management focus from blame to collaborative problem-solving
- Fostered smart risk-taking in R&D to accelerate innovation
Our Approach
We began by assessing the current error culture in R&D through workshops with middle and higher management, exploring how it affected work processes and defining transformation goals. We then expanded beyond R&D to establish a cross-functional program engaging diverse management levels and key employees from manufacturing, quality and other functions.
Participants trained as ambassadors to lead local changes, conducting team workshops and presenting to executive committees. The methodology focused heavily on psychological safety–what it is, how it helps projects and how teams can create it.
We developed comprehensive training covering error types, appreciation, feedback mechanisms, open communication and conflict resolution. The rollout included web-based training modules ensuring all employees can learn key principles, with full integration into daily management behavior and objective-setting processes targeted for 2026.
Related Services
R&D and Product Profitability
Markets demand profitable innovation faster than ever. We optimize the entire product lifecycle through design-to-cost, rapid prototyping, and portfolio profitability management.
Facing Similar Cultural Transformation Challenges?
- Struggling with project delays caused by hidden problems and blame-focused cultures
- Seeking to unlock innovation through psychological safety and smart risk-taking
- Ready to transform error management into competitive advantage through operational excellence
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