Low-cost, high-impact "daily scrums" improve safety

Source: OHS Alert - Subscription Service (11.06.2025)

Fifteen-minute daily stand-up meetings (DSMs) cultivate psychological safety and social support among workplace team members, and can be adopted as a targeted wellbeing intervention, German researchers have found.

They surveyed more than 300 software developers who attended daily "stand-ups", also known as "daily scrums", where they talked about projects, shared what they were working on and discussed any issues with teammates.

The researchers found the meetings were associated with psychological safety (with workers reporting, for instance, that they felt "safe to take a risk in our team"), work satisfaction and positive perceptions of team performance.

DSMs foster a safe space for employees to voice concerns.

Researchers

The results were confirmed in the second part of the study, which compared university teams working on projects with and without DSMs, and found DSMs had a significant impact on performance outcomes through creating psychological safety.

"Our findings showed that DSMs foster a safe space for employees to voice concerns, seek feedback, and engage in learning without fear of negative consequences," the researchers from the Wilhelm Wundt Institute of Psychology say.

They say DSMs likely contribute to psychological safety by offering workers a positive environment for conversation where they can share updates, seek help and share responsibility.

This in turn helps to strengthen the relationships and social support within their teams.

The results support the theory that agile teamwork practices that emphasise transparency, collaboration, self-organisation and regular reflection, promote psychological safety, the researchers say.

These practices have been linked in previous studies to positive job resources, fewer job demands, and improved wellbeing.

According to the researchers, organisations can "adopt DSMs as targeted interventions to cultivate a psychologically safe team climate".

The meetings can provide a "low-cost, high-impact tool for building more resilient and collaborative teams, ultimately strengthening team effectiveness", they say.

DSMs should be characterised by a clear structure and focus on status updates, to continuously optimise the flow of work and enhance transparency without deeper discussions and problem solving, they explain.

They should be "organised by the team for the team", so that only core team members participate and the focus remains on internal team communication and self-organisation.

The researchers advise organisations to ensure DSMs are structured and applied with clear guidelines, and promote active listening, turn-taking, and appreciative communication.

"Facilitation quality might play a crucial role in shaping the meeting climate," they say.

"Both leaders and team members should be trained in psychological safety principles and facilitation techniques, such as modelling vulnerability by sharing challenges, actively inviting contributions from more quiet members, and responding appreciatively to input.

"Organisations could embed DSM facilitation skills and psychological safety training into team and leadership development programs."

Relations between daily stand-up meetings, work satisfaction, and team performance perceptions: the role of psychological safety. Sarah Rietze and Hannes Zacher, Germany, European Journal of Work and Organisational Psychology, published online May 2025, doi: 10.1080/1359432X.2025.2508178.