“Can I interrupt while you're interrupting?” sounds ridiculous, but it captures something real about conversation in workplace teams. Many teams treat interruption as though it is always the same thing. In my view it is not....
Conflation Matters: Tension & Disagreement Vs Friction & Conflict
For far too long, sloppy management language has blurred distinctions that should never have been blurred. Experts, consultants, and workplace commentators keep praising “healthy conflict” and “productive friction” as if damage and discipline were the same thing....
Fair Play, Real-Time Fairness and the Future of Teamwork
I think the future of teamwork may belong to teams that can disagree well, not avoid disagreement. As AI takes over more routine, analytical, and repeatable work, the human advantage may lie elsewhere. Not in being faster.
The Conversation Conversation: What is Conversation For?
Some 40 years ago I asked a workmate what conversation was for. Her reply was that I was “fu*ked”. At the time we laughed, but the question never left me. It stayed with me for decades. After some 32 years, countless conversations about conversation, and hearing many different reasons for having them, I came up with a couple of answers that seemed to resonate.
Addressing Recursive Metacommunication
I think one of the more useful terms I’ve come across recently is "recursive metacommunication". It describes what happens when a discussion shifts from the idea itself to how the idea is being communicated, and then loops there. You’ve probably seen it: One person shares a view. The other reacts to the tone. The first defends their intent. The second frustratingly challenges that defense.
Objective Intelligence OQ with SpatzAI
For a long time I have been searching for what might help me become a little more objective, or at least a little less subjective. What I keep coming back to is this. Objectivity does not just come from better thinking. It also comes from better conditions for thinking together.
Fair Play in the Workplace
Q. How do we get fair play in the workplace? A. By giving team members a standard way to address objectionable behavior in real time.
SpatzAI: Real-Time Behavioral Governance
SpatzAI is a self-managed accountability and moderation platform designed to help resolve workplace "spats" (micro-conflicts) before they escalate into major conflict resolution incidents requiring HR. Still in the concept and testing phase, Spatz focuses on improving team collaboration by protecting members from "unfair play" during difficult conversations.
Real-time Behavioral Governance
Melinda French Gates’s approach to conflict, at least in this recent post on Fortune, seems more focused on delaying feedback, with a 48-hour pause before she raises the issue. Her rule is more about raising issues honestly and with grace, so she can get her thoughts together and so her people are not blindsided later in a formal review.
Fair Play in Teamwork, Real-Time Fairness with a VAR-like Backstop
In sports, fairness isn’t just a principle, it’s enforced in the moment. A referee’s whistle, a yellow card, or even a VAR review ensures that play stays balanced. What if workplace teamwork operated the same way?
Object123 