Speaking up, speaking down, giving feedback, challenging an idea — what do they all have in common? They are things organisations say they want people to be able to do. Yet employees can hesitate to speak up because of the possible cost. And managers can struggle to speak down without it becoming talking down. There is an important distinction.
What is Your Organization Prepared to Do?
I read a post today that contained this line: “That gap between what an organisation knows and WHAT IT IS PREPARED TO DO can tell us a great deal about its culture.” I think the intended meaning of prepared was fairly clear. The organisation knows there is a behavioural problem, but it is not sufficiently willing to confront it. Fair point. But I read another meaning into the same word.
SpatzAI Story Brand Escalator Pitch
SpatzAI helps teams stop small workplace problems becoming formal grievances. When someone crosses a line, employees don’t have to stay silent, blow up, or immediately go to HR. They use a simple agreed process to object, resolve, or escalate the behaviour fairly and in real time. Think of it as a referee and VAR for workplace behaviour — giving everyone the same rules and a clear way to deal with problems early SpatzAI helps disciplined teams resolve the small stuff before it becomes the big stuff.
How Do You Build a GREAT Team?
We spend a lot of time talking about how to build great managers. Train them to give better feedback. Teach them how to have difficult conversations. Improve their communication skills. All useful, and right in the middle of most management consultants’ target market. But I think there is another side to the equation that gets much less attention: What does it take to be a great team member? Jim Collins wrote:. “A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness.”
I Just Scored 100% for Psychological Safety
I accidentally ran a small experiment on a psychological safety survey. The first time I completed it, I misunderstood the response scale and selected “Strongly Disagree” for every question thinking it was agree. My result: 20% Then I realised my mistake and did it again, selecting “Strongly Agree” for every question. My result: 100%. Apparently, in the space of a few minutes, I had transformed from a workplace disaster into a model of psychological safety.
SpatzAI Pre-grievance Intervention
We think that a pre-grievance intervention is what should happen before there is a grievance. Think of SpatzAI as a workplace smoke-alarm system. You don’t wait until the building is burning before deciding what to do.
How to Control Rogue AI, Straight form the Horses Mouth
I asked my trained AI to answer this question: "If you were charged with reducing the hazards of an AI going rogue what 5 steps would you take to ensure this behavior was addressed and resolved." Maybe the answer
Pre-Grievance Intervention: A New Workplace Category
Organisations usually have processes for workplace grievances, bullying, harassment and misconduct. But there is a much bigger space that comes before all of those; the everyday behaviours that irritate, undermine, embarrass or disrespect someone, but may not yet justify involving a manager, HR or a formal process I think this deserves its own category:
Is My AI Already Outsmarting Workplace Experts?
I asked my personal AI this question, thinking maybe it is smart enough to come up with a solution to this global problem: "If you were charged with reducing psychosocial hazards, (specifically minor behavior issues) in Australia, and given a free scope, what would you do?" Here is the AIs reply - *PS it seems to have been obviously influenced by my ongoing conversation with it : "My system would look like this:
A Journey to Address Dogma
Here, I am going to say it. I believe dogma is one of the great curses holding back human progress — in science, business, organisations, and increasingly, AI. And ironically, I think dogma often arrives wearing the badge of expertise. The more knowledgeable we become, the easier it is to confuse “this is what I currently believe” with “this is how things are.” Three thinkers have strongly influenced my thinking here.
