Troubleshooting Agile Status in Meetings: We are All Primates
Jun 2, 2021
The podcast examines the impact of social hierarchy on team discussions. It highlights how informal leaders can shape team dynamics and the emotional effects of status. A deep dive into Google’s Project Aristotle reveals the importance of balanced participation and psychological safety. Strategies like core protocols and Liberating Structures are discussed to empower diverse voices. Casual conversations are also explored as a means to enhance engagement, illustrating how they can unlock valuable insights and strengthen team effectiveness.
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Social Hierarchy's Emotional Impact
- Humans are social primates and deeply sensitive to their social status within groups.
- Low status is emotionally painful due to evolutionary factors affecting group dynamics.
Tyranny of Structurelessness Explained
- Self-organized teams often face the "tyranny of structurelessness," where informal leaders gain unchecked influence.
- Without formal leadership structures, marginalized members have no recourse to challenge bad informal leaders.
Recognize Informal Hierarchies
- Denying the existence of informal hierarchies in self-organized teams causes unresolved power imbalances.
- Self-organized teams require explicit management and structures rather than assuming no hierarchy will form.
