As a startup founder I have been on the wrong end of a few disputes in my time and I am sure some could attest to being on the wrong end of some of our disputes, also. So, how do we tell who was the offender and who was the victim in such disputes?
Micro Conflict Resolution in Teams.
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 →
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 →
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 →
Level Playing Field
In my opinion, when it comes to getting Psychological Safety into your team or organization, there is no better way to start than creating a level playing field, especially when disagreeing with your manager, boss, or CEO.You would never have to worry about what you said in front of them, knowing that if you did... 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 →
Is Psychological Safety a Myth?
If someone claimed that a particular startup team or organization has a high level of Psychological Safety, you would expect that the team members would be able to answer a series of psych. safety questions in unison, right? Taking this test should be an accurate and objective way to prove one way or the other... Continue Reading →
Empowering Startup Team Decision-making
In 2005 I tried to warn our startup team of three about taking on the wrong investors & was dismissed as a "loose cannon," so I deferred to the them. At the time, we didn't even recognize the team's behavior as uncivil or toxic.Three years later, and after $2M invested, we lost everything due to... Continue Reading →
Disagreements are NOT Conflicts
Listen to organizational psychologists, and some will sprout the idea that conflict can sometimes be good. I believe that any conflict or dispute is not something to be enjoyed or aspire to have. That there is a big difference between a disagreement and a conflict.Disagreements, to me, are essential, and we should have far more... Continue Reading →
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