Here is the latest iteration for what SpatzAI does. Our app and framework provides a real-time intervention that safeguards new ideas within teams. Protection from what, you may ask? From the dogmatic naysaying and browbeating that can have a significant negative impact on new ideas and the individuals proposing them. Here are a few ways... Continue Reading →
Desmond Sherlock References
My Synopsis as seen on Bing Chat:Desmond Sherlock is a founder of Spatz.ai, a company that aims to address spats in teams democratically1. He is also a co-founder and co-owner of several other businesses related to travel insurance and car rental1. He is an author of a book called Rethink Perfect, which proposes six rules of engagement for moderating... Continue Reading →
Start at the End – SpatzAI Behavioral Statement
Matt Wallaert's book Start At The End (summary) is an excellent starter for learning to create an intervention that can be piloted and refined to eventually achieve the desired behavior. Based on the idea that science is a better way to design an intervention than using "marketing madmen" scratching their heads and putting together an... Continue Reading →
Failsafe Button for Teams
In many workplaces, discussions can quickly become heated or uncomfortable, mainly when discussing sensitive topics. This is where having a failsafe "button" or procedure can be incredibly useful.
MICRO-CONFLICT RESOLUTION MEETS PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
“65% of startup teams fail due to founder conflict” Harvard Professor, Noam WassermanTHE FOUNDER’S DILEMMAS WHAT IS CONFLICT?As humans, disagreement, debate, and negotiation are all natural aspects of our interactions. However, it's how we handle these situations that defines us and determines our outcomes. At SpatzAI, we view disagreement as a healthy aspect of team... Continue Reading →
Why SpatzAI Will Change the Conflict Resolution Landscape in Organizations
Conflict resolution has hardly changed in 100 years. Below is a sample form that major organizations like BHP are using for their employees to report problematic behavior. There does not appear to be any forms for addressing minor problematic behavior, however.Our Mission: Is to become the global default platform for resolving minor problematic behavior in... Continue Reading →
SpatzAI: A Real-Time Intervention Toolkit for Managing Problematic Behaviors in Teams
As a behavior research novice but with over 20 years of pondering, my primary focus has been designing an effective intervention method to address problematic behavior within teams. Specifically, I have been working on a solution to manage unfair naysaying or browbeating instances, which can stifle collaboration and prevent team members from sharing their ideas.
Rethinking Psychological Safety: Moving Beyond Leaders as the Solution
Workplace spats, disputes and conflicts are common, with over 60% involving employees and managers. Psychological safety is often discussed as a solution to this and many more issues, with most experts recommending that leaders be responsible for fostering this culture.
Start at the End: Knowing How to Address Being Browbeaten
The End that I had some 20 years ago was "knowing how to address being browbeaten." My younger brother was guilty of doing this when I would tell him a radical idea. "Erk!! That'll never work!!". At the time, it seemed we needed a way to address this browbeating behavior.
Psychological Safety – Devil in the Detail
However, talk is cheap, but achieving psychological safety requires more than lofty rhetoric and platitudes, the devil is in the detail. We think it’s going to require pragmatic actions, such as changing the behavioral structure of companies to be more democratic in how we interact and treat each other during difficult discussions.
The Golden Rule Error
The Golden Rule Error The golden rule is a moral principle commonly understood as "treat others as you would like to be treated." This rule is often attributed to Jesus a couple of thousand years ago and has been a central tenet of many religions and ethical systems throughout history. The golden rule encourages individuals... Continue Reading →
Devine Intervention – SpatzAI
Devine Intervention - SpatzAI When it comes to storytelling, it can often feel like no truly "new" ideas are left. After all, we have told stories for thousands of years, and, likely, almost every possible plot point, character arc, and twist ending has been explored at some point. But the beauty of storytelling lies not... Continue Reading →
A Naysaying Intervention Paradox
I'm developing a radically new AI-powered toolkit that helps teams effectively tackle situations where someone tries to quash their radically new idea...so funny!
Cause and Effect – Behavior and Psychological Safety
Cause & Effect - Cart Before Horse The relationship between behavior and psychological safety is complex, and it can be challenging to establish a clear cause-and-effect relationship. However, experts generally agree that behavior is crucial in creating and maintaining a psychologically safe environment. The following is the sort of standard hyperbolae that most psychology experts... Continue Reading →
Intervention vs Prevention for Poor Behavior in Teams
Intervention and prevention are two approaches to address poor behavior in the workplace. Most psychological safety experts promote prevention; however, every day, people are dealing with poor behavior in the workplace and need help NOW! It could take years before preventative measures kick in, yet no one seems to be promoting a standard intervention procedure... Continue Reading →
Clean the Fish Vs Clean the Fishbowl
It's time to clean the fishbowl, not the fish On LinkedIn, so many psychological safety experts suggest that changing managers' behavior is the key to changing their employees' behavior. However, I see this approach as akin to cleaning the fish instead of cleaning the fishbowl. It's important to differentiate between educating people to change their... Continue Reading →
The SpatzAI Demo Video
Just showing off the latest iteration of the SpatzAI demo video incase anyone is interested. https://youtu.be/8e9FD4ZVTB0
The Subtle Art of Browbeating & Naysaying
Bullying in the workplace will be made illegal across Australia soon; however, I don't believe that bullying is the only real issue here. It is not unlawful and will never be to subtly browbeat or naysay. I think this misbehavior will only grow as overt bullying is made illegal.Everyone knows that explicit bullying is wrong... Continue Reading →
Stop The Line Conversations
"Stop the Line manufacturing" is a technique introduced by Taiichi Ohno (of Toyota Production System fame) in which every employee on the assembly line is responsible for pushing a big red button (pull the cord) that stops everything whenever they notice a defect on the assembly line." Initially, people did not understand the idea as the dogma at the... Continue Reading →
SpatzAI Theme Song
I asked ChatGPT to rewrite the Flash Gordon lyrics by Queento use as a theme song for our intervention toolkit concept, SpatzAI.com and it came up with this, with no other prompts and in just a minute. Verse 1: Spatz, A-I, the hero we need Fights for truth, with lightning speed From distant worlds, he's... Continue Reading →
Real-time Protection from Groupthink
Getting people to speak up is NOT the problem; we have been doing it since birth. In my view, providing PROTECTION from groupthink is the problem. Properly solved and we can all speak up safely.
Workplace Protection for Speaking Up
Lately, this idea encouraging workplace team members to speak up and call out mistakes, misbehavior, and misleading leadership has been getting a lot of airwaves. Still, no one seems to be discussing how we can supply sufficient protection during the process.A key to my understanding of this issue is from the quote: “Psychological safety is... Continue Reading →
Blind Misleading the Blind
It's time to get serious about this. I believe it's time we start talking about basic protections that allow workplace team members to speak up rather than listening to the ubiquitous cliches and platitudes that psychologists use to describe the need for psychological safety.
Psychological Uncertainty
The latest buzzphrase is psychological safety. It is aspirational, and as yet, no one knows how to achieve this social construct, but it seems most psychologists are discussing what it will look like and how it might be achieved. I doubt we will. It's a bit like we're drowning while they are describing the water. ... Continue Reading →
Early-stage Misbehavior Intervention Toolkit Vs Positive Behavior Reinforcement Certifiers
POSITIVE BEHAVIOR REINFORCEMENTIt is estimated that the cost of not having a psychologically safe workplace is around $600 billion annually in the US, in employee turnover. So I guess it would be an excellent business to promote psychological safety in whatever form that takes. Most behavioral psychologists are promoting psychological safety nowadays. They mainly focus on positive... Continue Reading →
Avoiding Major Conflict with SpatzAI: The Code of Conduct for Minor Misbehavior
Our suggestion for using an app and peer review network to facilitate conflict resolution and data analysis is intriguing and could potentially have wide-reaching implications. Our proposal has thought-provoking ideas for how we can navigate disagreements in a more productive and objective way.
Freedom to Speak Up
Run with me on this.... Imagine for a moment: Why would it matter what a manager or an employee said to each other or how they said it….IF….(the biggest word in the English language) they had an agreed-to foolproof procedure that dynamically adjusts each other’s behavior on the fly, and in real-time? That way, they... Continue Reading →
The Cost of Workplace Conflict in Australia
Workplace conflict in Australia is estimated to cost between $6-12 billion annually.Some 30 percent of a typical manager's time is spent dealing with disputes and conflicts.On the surface you wouldn't know it, but this problem is endemic and runs deep within organizations. We have created a fourfold solution that allows employees to address conflict and... Continue Reading →
Psychological Safety and Micro-conflicts (Spats) in Teams
In a research paper in 2017 "The dynamics of micro-conflicts and uncertainty in successful and unsuccessful design teams" (link to PDF), the authors seem to have made a direct correlation between successful design teams and how they tackled their micro-conflicts. The authors found that a team's psychological safety was directly related to how teams (in... Continue Reading →
The Potential Science Behind SpatzAI
I guess the question is, is there a standard behavior everyone can agree on and utilize? I think so and believe I have found it and have been proving it for some 38 years, and it still seems to work. It's called "I could be wrong," or the technical term is Rethink Perfect. I wrote... Continue Reading →
SpatzAI Sparks a Paradigm Shift in Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution has long been challenging for organizations, but a new concept in artificial intelligence, SpatzAI, is set to revolutionize how we manage disputes and conflicts in organizations. With its simple yet groundbreaking approach, SpatzAI is shifting the paradigm of conflict resolution and offering a new solution to an age-old problem. Join us as we... Continue Reading →
Blaming Blamers Vs Fixing Flaws
I'm sure that everyone knows organizations with people pointing their fingers and attributing blame to individuals is not the best way forward for collaboration. In a recent article in the Economist (you need to register to read it) "Why pointing fingers is unhelpful - And why bosses do it more than anyone", the author seems... Continue Reading →
SpatzAI Proposed Scrum Plug-in for Misbehavior in Teams
In chapter 5 of Jeff Sutherland's book on Scrum, he briefly mentions behavior for Scrum in the form of "don't be an ass hole and get rid of ass holes quick." Yet he doesn't mention detail about how one should address this, as though it is a simple process. If only life was so simple... Continue Reading →
SpatzAI Elevator Pitch
You know that feeling you get when you want to say something about someone's behavior, but you're too afraid you'll say the wrong thing? Well, we've designed the go-to method for speaking up in organizations when you feel someone is annoying or out of line. In fact, we're creating a whole platform and toolkit called... Continue Reading →
When the Shit Hits the Fan
Dear Amy and Kim, it's all very well to tell your dear followers, "4 ways to help you to speak up in the workplace", only for these readers to try and find out that speaking up doesn't always go as planned and the shit hits the fan. Then they remembered why they avoided disagreeing with... Continue Reading →
One-size-fits-all Solution for Infringements in Teams
In soccer, there are 17 rules that players should adhere to if they wish to compete. In the workplace, there are a similar number of rules for behavior that a team member should adhere to for the organization to run smoothly. In soccer, on average, two teams will have between 20 to 30 infringements during... Continue Reading →
Pushing the Envelope
"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking" George S Paton We all know how important innovation and collaboration are in organizations, especially tech companies. It is usually highly prized and encouraged. But to achieve these breakthroughs, we need to push the envelope within ourselves and in teams. At the same time, everyone seems... Continue Reading →
Conformity or Conflict
...any level of or kind derision leads to fear which leads to conformity (or conflict.
Take Chances with Sufficient Protection
“Psychological safety is an atmosphere where one can take chances.....without fear & with sufficient protection.” [EDGAR SCHEIN & WARREN BENNIS 1965 – PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY – WIKIPEDIA] Here is an example of a micro-conflict self-managing strategy that could radically change the team collaboration landscape. Provide team members with sufficient protection to encourage them to speak up in real-time... Continue Reading →
Can’t See the Psychological Safety for the Micro-conflict
What if achieving psychological safety was as simple as nipping our micro-conflict behavior at the bud, before they became full blown and expensive conflicts to resolve? I think we can using SpatzAI our AI toolkit to resolve and monitor micro-conflicts in teams. According to some studies the average number of hours lost to productivity due... Continue Reading →
Most Organizations Are Not Democratic
Kremlin Vs Westminster System The latest buzzword in organizations is psychological safety, where team members feel free to speak up without any repercussions, but is it any wonder that they don't when the whole organization looks more like the Kremlin than the Westminster System and is structured to shut them up! The name "Kremlin" means... Continue Reading →
What Conflict Resolution & Psychological Safety Have in Common
Conflict resolution and psychological safety are both important concepts in the field of organizational psychology and are related in several ways. Conflict resolution refers to the process of resolving disputes or differences that arise between individuals or groups in an organization. This can include addressing conflicts related to work tasks, differences in values or beliefs,... Continue Reading →
Psychological Safety Protections Vs Psychological Safety Platitudes
I believe it is important not to be confused when experts are describing the problem and making it sound like it is the solution.Eg: “Creating a culture of trust and respect can foster psychological safety." [This platitude was generated by ChatGPT] Sounds great on paper but it’s just smoke and mirrors to me, with zero... Continue Reading →
Fear of Conflict Behavior & Providing Sufficient Protections
We all seem to have a primal fear of conflict and the behavior that leads to it. Applying this definition to workplace teams, one way to tackle this fear of conflict behavior and allow us to feel sufficiently protected (safe) when we disagree would be to use the following
Fighting Hidden Conflict Resolution
Malicious gossip is the scourge of most organizations. It is usually how most individuals in organizations deal with their minor conflicts. Also referred to as backbiting, badmouthing, venting or backstabbing, it can only exist if we do it in secret. It's our hidden conflict resolution and so ubiquitous that we don't even seem to notice... Continue Reading →
Conflict Resolution or Secret Men’s Business
Generally speaking, conflict resolution is carried out by management and or HR behind closed doors. It is not a democratic process. Let's call it secret men's business. Is it any wonder that there are countless unresolved complaints from disgruntled employees in organizations? The democratic process was first developed over 2500 years ago in Ancient Athens,... Continue Reading →
Resolving Conflict Behavior in Teams
"Conflict is an escalation of a disagreement, which is its common prerequisite, and is characterized by the existence of conflict behavior, in which the beings (team members) are actively trying to damage one another."[Prof Michael Nicholson - Wikipedia] Therefore, if you felt I was 'actively trying to damage you', there is a good chance of... Continue Reading →
Venting or Gossiping
When people gossip, they will never want the person or organization they are talking about want to hear what they have to say.
Further Steps in Transparency
Another point for exposing our unresolved conflict is that it acts as a great incentive to ensure we all use our new and radical toolkit available to resolve our spats before they become our exposed conflicts.
Account Able – The Ability to be Accountable for One’s Actions
Being accountable for our actions sounds simple, but try extracting an acceptable apology from someone, and you will soon find out that this ability is as rare as hen's teeth. My brother Steve and I tried this experiment some 20 years ago. We agreed that if either of us got angry, we would give the... Continue Reading →
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