For the last 15 years, I have been pursuing a solution to minor disputes within startup teams (namely our own) between my brother and me. I hated it when he responded with "erk!" when I came up with a novel proposal for a problem that we were trying to solve. As a designer, we were... Continue Reading →
Your Real-Time Protection is Now Activated
For the last 15 years, I have been developing and simplifying the basic precautions & protections that team members need to resolve all minor & significant disputes satisfactorily. Using a self-organizing system means it is essential middle managers put themselves out of a job, as some 25% of all unresolved disputes involve managers with their... Continue Reading →
Play the Ball Not Play the Man
There are not too many examples of idioms that work as well as this one, I reckon, but as an ex-soccer player, I would say that. However, there is a bit more to this idea that meets the eye. The best soccer players play the ball (PB) because they can. Those who are not so skillful will... Continue Reading →
Psychological Safety Vs Psychological Protections
It seems that everyone is talking about Psychological Safety nowadays. Still, no one seems to be talking so much about the basic protections needed to create such an environment. "Safety" seems to be more the state of mind we are aspiring for, and "protections" appear to be actual steps taken to achieve safety. The protections to create... Continue Reading →
Shield of Protection
Most authors on organizational behavior, such as Amy Edmondson, Timothy Clark, and Kim Scott, seem only to offer psychological insights on how team members should behave towards each other rather than specifying how to actually protect members from misbehaving and toxic managers. Imagine if every organization was obliged to provide a standard "shield of protection"... Continue Reading →
Death by a Thousand Cuts
Ever wondered why a business or personal relationship fails? Most people never do, deeming it just too painful or complicated to try. Well, I have wondered most of my life and come up with the simplest and most obvious answer—death by a thousand cuts. In other words, simply too many nasty and unresolved disputes. Obvious,... Continue Reading →
Disagreement Vs Dispute
Disagreements, to me, are essential, and we should have far more of them, but a disputes can quickly erupt from a disagreement because one or more will start to "play the man, not the ball." It is when we get personal that disputes arise, I believe.Listen carefully to any disagreement, and you will find that... Continue Reading →
Co-founders, Build Your Own Dispute Network
We use Disputz.com as our Founder Dispute Network "65% of startups fail because of co-founder conflict"PROF. NOAM WASSERMAN – THE FOUNDER’S DILEMMAS Anyone that has ever been in a startup will know that it is challenging. It’s sort of like being in a Wild West movie, with no natural justice system and everyone afraid that there might... Continue Reading →
Harassing in Startups
I have a simple idea. Let's make all forms of harassing in startups (not just sexual harassment) unacceptable. If all forms of harassing in startup teams really was unacceptable, then I believe all co-founders would be using the structure needed that empowers all team members to tackle such misbehavior, in real-time.. Imagine if all team... Continue Reading →
Founder Dispute Network
Resolve Co-founder Conflict with a Founder Dispute Network FDN A Founder Dispute Network (FDN) is a new safety strategy designed to help care for and protect startup founder members from co-founder conflict. According to Noam Wasserman, the bestselling author of The Founder's Dilemma, some "65% of startups fail because of co-founder conflict". Using an FDN,... Continue Reading →
Our Dispute Culture – 3 Steps to Stamp Out Co-founder Conflict
What is a dispute culture? It is a culture that helps us stamp our team conflict. We will inevitably disagree in a startup team, as we are all individuals, and we all think differently, whether we like to admit it or not. Our dispute culture rekindles and empowers us to disagree, even more, by setting... Continue Reading →
Real-world Psychological Safety
“Psychological Safety is the shared feeling that you can freely express your thoughts and ideas, or make mistakes and ask for help without receiving negative reactions.”Amy Edmondson on Psychological Safety I have read oodles of articles and books on Psychological Safety, most quoting this definition above by Amy Edmondson. What no one seems to be... Continue Reading →
Easy As Object123
Recently I had a chat with some people on Linkedin about the size and complexities of safety manuals. Some mentioned 80 to 120 page procedure manual. Imagine there is an emergency, and all you have is the phone book for a procedure. It is far from ideal. The same can be said for Psychological Safety,... Continue Reading →
Coercive Rhetorical Behavior
We use rhetoric to influence our argument by HOW we deliver our message rather than by WHAT we actually argue. When our rhetoric becomes coercive or abusive, we should agree to step up to such behavior and object in real-time. From the beating of a single brow (browbeating) to the raising of tone and volume, this behavior is not... Continue Reading →
Co-founder Conflict Anyone?
"Some 65% of startups fail because of co-founder conflict"NOAM WASSERMAN – THE FOUNDER'S DILEMMAS So, you are a co-founder of a startup, and you have a conflict with your co-founder. How do you go about resolving it? Or maybe you sweep it under the carpet, only to trip over it later? What if you had access... Continue Reading →
Self-organizing Culture to Resolve Co-founder Disputes
"Some 65% of startups fail because of founder conflict"Noam Wasserman - The Founder's Dilemmas In my opinion conflict is not the same as a disagreeing or healthy tension. A conflict or dispute occurs when we disagree and then start to play the man and not the ball. It usually happens when we have dogmatic polarized... Continue Reading →
How Does Your Team Tackle Bullying?
Bullying works. If it didn't work, there wouldn't be any.At times, people in a team will bully or use coercive behavior to unfairly affect the outcome of a decision. Obviously bullying in teams will influence the decision-making process and affect the actual choices made. This may explain why so many startup teams fail. If you... Continue Reading →
Disputz Network Values
Disputz Review Network CLARITYThere are no complex rules of engagement to learn with Disputz. One lets the other know, in real-time, when one is offended, and there can be only one of two results; the objection is sustained or overruled. For example, when one objects to poor behavior or attitude, in real-time during a disagreement,... Continue Reading →
Disputz Review Network Pitch
the problem Internal disputes occur in teams & especially startup teams when they are making pivotal decisions early on. It can be a power struggle when we disagree & can expose poor behavior & attitude issues. These disputes are difficult to resolve, cause us friction, and upset the dynamics within the team, which can leave... Continue Reading →
The Quest to Find Psychological Safety
The quest to find Psychological Safety has been ongoing since 2016, when everyone found out, What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team. Since then, everyone seems to be trying to find and define how we go about achieving Psychological Safety. How Do We Find & Define Psychological Safety What if I said... Continue Reading →
DISPUTZ EXPLAINER
What is it: Disputz is a Culture-as-a-Service AI platform to help teams resolve their internal disputes. Our Mission: To empower team members to make self-confident & objective decisions. how we do this: By enabling team members to consistently OBJECT to behavior that we find offensive, during disagreements, and if necessary, have our objections peer reviewed.... Continue Reading →
Exercise Caution When We Disagree!
I just saw this sign (slightly modified) in the city of Darwin. It occurred to me that we are bombarded with instructions to be cautious for hundreds of things, and rightly so. However, I have never seen a sign for the one caution for a behavior that I believe is responsible for more deaths and... Continue Reading →
Object123 