WEBINAR | GYST LEARNING SERIES
Influence Without Fear: Leading for Safety Without Blame or Punishment
Safety culture doesn't improve because people are afraid of making mistakes, it improves because people feel safe enough to speak up when something is wrong. The goal is not a consequence-free workplace. It is a workplace where accountability supports learning and safer performance.
Join Psychologist Vanessa Aldous as she explores what it really takes to lead for safety without fear - building influence through trust, accountability and genuine psychological safety, rather than control.
Drawing on over 20 years' experience transforming workplace cultures, Vanessa will explain why people are more likely to speak up when leaders respond with curiosity rather than blame and share practical, evidence-based strategies for creating the kind of environment where your people feel safe to own their mistakes, and grow from them.
What You'll Learn
Why blame and punishment undermine safety outcomes rather than improve them
How to build psychological safety as the foundation of genuine influence
How to lead conversations after incidents that build trust instead of eroding it
Practical tools for holding people accountable without resorting to fear
Speaker
Vanessa Aldous
Psychologist
Vanessa is a Registered Psychologist with a Master's Degree in Applied Psychology and over 20 years' experience working across high-risk, complex and operationally demanding environments. She partners with executive teams and boards on culture, safety maturity and leadership capability across energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors.
Vanessa brings together expertise in psychological safety, behaviour change, and workforce wellbeing with practical organisational experience. Known for her engaging facilitation, she helps leaders and teams strengthen trust, culture, and psychological safety.
Host
Steve Pettit
GYST Managing Director
Steve Pettit is the Managing Director of GYST, working with leaders across 25 countries to build cultures where psychological safety is the foundation of how work actually gets done, not just a compliance checkbox.
With a background spanning education, health, and executive leadership, Steve brings a rare combination of emotional intelligence, strategic thinking, and real-world experience facilitating cultural transformation in high-risk environments. His leadership philosophy is simple: great leadership isn't about having all the answers, it's about creating the conditions where others can find them.
