Safety for Speaking Up

Getting employees to speak up or speak out in organizations is a real issue due to the objectionable responses or adverse repercussions they can experience.

At SpatzAI we are empowering team members to speak up by giving them the tools to object to objectionable responses, in real-time.

In the same way that Toyota revolutionized the car industry by giving assembly line workers the Andon cord to pause the line when they noticed a quality issue, we provide team members with the SpatzAI Toolkit to pause the conversation when they spot a quality response issue.

At SpatzAI, our mission is to provide an environment where innovative ideas or safety concerns can be shared freely and safely. This involves protecting team members from coercive and manipulative responses that can skew the decision-making process. Our vision is to create an innovative team environment filled with constructive conversations and free from toxic conflict.

The SpatzAI toolkit empowers team members to address and resolve problematic responses in real-time. Inspired by Toyota’s principle of stopping to fix problems, our approach emphasizes immediate intervention to ensure quality in team interactions.

Our structured intervention process includes team members agreeing to use a verbal
0. Caution to pause the conversation to resolve the issue. Or if unresolved, an escalation procedure, if needed, can be applied using the Spatz purpose-built messaging app and platform using an official 1. Caution (spat), 2. Objection (dispute), and 3. Stop (conflict), automatically posting the conflict onto the Spatz Team Assisted Review (STAR) platform. This transparency allows team members to address unfair or objectionable responses as they happen, document the issue, and know that they are protected by their peers.

By providing these tools, we ensure that conversations stay within a constructive state. Team members can focus on converging their solutions rather than trying to convert each other, to their own viewpoint, using overbearing (objectionable) responses. This proactive micro-conflict resolution method reduces the risk of minor spats escalating into significant conflicts, thus maintaining a positive and collaborative work environment.

SpatzAI’s approach aligns with the principle that peace is not the absence of conflict but the ability to address it effectively. We believe that by empowering team members to speak up and object to objectionable responses, we create a psychologically safe atmosphere where everyone can contribute their bold ideas without fear of any adverse repercussions.

The Spatz toolkit is not just about addressing unfair responses; it’s about creating a culture where quality and respect are prioritized in every conversation, ensuring that all team members understand that it’s safe to speak up.