Psychological safety: Has been talked about since the 1965 by Schein and Bennis, which included "an atmosphere where one can take chances (which experimentalism implies) without fear and with sufficient protection." in its definition and later popularized (and diluted in my opinion) by Amy Edmondson.
Why Do Workplace Teams Need to Resolve Their Minor Spats?
In creative and collaborative teams, disagreements are inevitable. But what turns a team that falters into one that flourishes isn’t if minor conflicts happen, it’s how those “micro-conflicts” are handled....
Every Workplace Conflict Started Out as a Minor Spat
Serious workplace conflicts rarely, if every appear out of nowhere. The shouting match in the boardroom, the feud between departments, the HR complaints about “toxic culture”, they didn’t just happen. They all began as something much smaller: a raised eyebrow, an offhand remark, a piece of feedback delivered poorly, or a single unfair or minor disrespectful infringement. In other words, a minor spat.
Respect Is Like Air — Accountability Keeps It Flowing
Imagine scrolling LinkedIn and reading just about any post on teamwork. Chances are, it’s about the need for a “respectful culture,” “psychological safety,” and “nurturing it” as an imperative. But really, who doesn’t already believe that respect and feeling psychologically safe are essential? No one, I’d say.
Objective Reality vs Objectionable Behavior
Philosophers have chased the holy grail of objective reality for centuries. Some treat it as the ultimate goal truth independent of any mind, pure and eternal. Others dismiss it as a mirage, forever out of reach. And a third way sees its value not in capturing “the truth” outright, but in continually reducing what is objectionable, the claims, dogmas, and illusions that collapse under scrutiny.
Real-Time Team Communication: A Behavioral Psychology Review of SpatzAI’s Innovation
After analyzing the SpatzAI Team Playbook from a behavioral psychology perspective, I'm genuinely impressed by the elegance of this workplace intervention system. SpatzAI has identified something crucial that most conflict resolution approaches miss: the power of real-time intervention during team discussions.
Micro-Aggressions Spark Micro-Conflicts (Spats) & Potentially Much More
Micro-aggressions, those subtle slights like a sarcastic or dogmatic (I am right you, are wrong) tone, an eye-roll, or a dismissive interruption, may appear trivial in isolation. But in practice, they can sting, chip away at trust, and quietly derail collaboration, leading to uncertainty and indecision.
Micro-Conflict Self-Management for Micro-Aggression, Of Course!
Australia’s new psychosocial hazard laws—alongside Safe Work Australia’s definition of bullying as “repeated, unreasonable behavior directed at a worker … that creates a risk to health and safety”—illustrate just how narrow the reporting threshold can be. Micro-aggressions, like a raised eyebrow or a passive-aggressive tone, rarely meet the “repeated and unreasonable” bar.
I Don’t Work For You
A colleague once said to Meg De Keukelaere: “I don’t work for you.” It stopped her in her tracks. Not only was it jarring, it also sparked reflection on rules of engagement, belonging, and the role of core values in shaping culture....
Feedback, Pushback & Backlash
I think I’ve worked out a key blind spot in Amy Edmondson’s thesis on psychological safety. Her definition works well in high-stakes error environments like hospitals or aviation. In those settings, people need to feel safe to admit mistakes without fear of blame. That’s essential — nobody should hide a surgical slip or a checklist error because they’re afraid of punishment. Edmondson’s framing covers that territory well.
Object123 