Category: Teams, Groups & Culture
What makes a group of people work well together, and what quietly stops them. Psychological safety, trust, culture, conflict and the group dynamics that operate whether or not anyone names them.
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Who Decides What Organisational Values Really Mean?
Part 3 of 3 · A series by Brian Hunter Young What If Organisation Development Has Been Looking in the Wrong Place? Could Better Questions Lead to Better Organisation Development? Who Decides What Organisational Values Really Mean? (you are here) In the third article in my developing series, I revisit my Master’s […]
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The Person You Know Least Well May Be Yourself
Most people are substantially less self-aware than they believe. Most of us have systematic blind spots about our own motivations, emotional states, and behavioural patterns. The person you know least well may be yourself. Tasha Eurich, a psychologist and executive coach, opened her research programme on self-awareness with a striking observation: when […]
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Psychological Safety: An Introduction and Background
Psychological safety is the shared belief that it’s safe to speak up, take risks, and be vulnerable in a team without fear of humiliation or punishment. It is a foundational condition for effective teams. The concept was popularised by Amy Edmondson.. Introduction In recent decades, psychological safety has emerged as one of […]
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Loneliness Is a Health Crisis, Not a Feeling
Loneliness is not an emotional state. It’s a public health issue, a physiological condition with measurable consequences for health and mortality. If affects the same biological systems as physical threat and materially increases mortality. Loneliness is far more than just a feeling that needs managing. Loneliness is a physiological condition that is […]
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The Drexler-Sibbet Team Performance Model
The Drexler-Sibbet Team Performance Model is a seven-stage framework developed by Allan Drexler and David Sibbet at The Grove Consultants International. It was designed as a visual map that tracks a team’s journey from initial orientation through to high performance and renewal, with each stage having both a resolved and an unresolved […]
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Google’s Project Aristotle and Psychological Safety
Project Aristotle was Google’s multi-year research initiative to discover what makes teams effective. They found that how a team worked together mattered far more than who was on it, and they identified psychological safety as the most important factor for high-performing teams. The Answer is Kind of Simple Around 2012, Google decided […]
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Team Social Contracts: Why They Matter and How to Use Them
A team social contract is an agreed set of norms, behaviors, and expectations that support team functioning. These contracts help create psychological safety, align team behaviors, and reduce misunderstandings. Creating a social contract involves collaborative reflection, shared values, and regular revisiting. When used well, they improve trust, communication, accountability, and team culture. […]
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High and Low Context Cultures: What Leaders and Managers Need to Know
High-context cultures rely on implicit communication, shared norms, and unspoken understanding. Low-context cultures prioritize explicit communication and detailed information sharing. Understanding these cultural dimensions is vital for effective leadership in diverse teams. High and Low Context Cultures The terms high-context and low-context were introduced by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in the 1970s. […]
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Connection Is Not a Preference. It Is a Biological Requirement.
Human beings are not merely social by preference, we are social by our biological design. Social pain activates the same neural circuits as physical pain, but social connection is a salve for many of our woes. We are biologically wired to be social Matthew Lieberman’s neuroscience research shows that the brain’s default […]
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The Harvard Study That Should Change How You Think About Success
The quality of the close relationships we have is the single strongest predictor of our health, happiness, and longevity. Harvard Study Findings The Harvard Study of Adult Development, now in its 87th year, is the longest-running study of adult life ever conducted. Its central finding is that the quality of close relationships […]