Category: Trust Conflict and Culture

Protect the act of raising a problem. Review the underlying work against clear standards, with consequences established through a fair process.

Earn trust in a new leadership role through clear commitments, dependable follow-through, and fair handling of inconvenient information.

Apologize for leadership behavior by naming what you did, the confirmed impact, and the conduct you will change.

Evaluate a high performer’s contribution and harmful conduct separately, using documented work evidence and an appropriate process. State the behavio...

Inspect what happens to inconvenient information and the people who raise it before labeling the culture.

Build an executive team that can disagree and deliver through an explicit working agreement about evidence, decisions, and repair.

When an executive team splits into factions, examine the shared decisions the groups keep obstructing. Map their incentives, resource dependencies, and con...

Reduce politics around resources by making the allocation criteria, evidence, and decision authority explicit.

Choose anonymous or open feedback according to the risk, technical limits, and follow-up needs of the channel.

Trace the choices leaders reward and tolerate before rewriting the company’s values statement.