6 Defensive Behaviors That Show Up at Work--and How Psychological Safety Can Help.

The article focuses on six distinct defensive threat responses—fight, flight, freeze, please/appease (fawning), attach/cry for help, and collapse—that employees unconsciously bring to the workplace when they perceive psychological threats. These behaviors, rooted in survival strategies from early experiences of safety and danger, often signal a lack of psychological safety, defined as a shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. The article outlines how managers can recognize these responses not as character flaws but as adaptive signals, and offers strategies to foster psychological safety through curiosity, consistent support, and compassionate leadership, thereby enabling employees to contribute their best thinking and creativity.