Proposed for removal
Proposed removals
The No-Fix Round
A round where each person says how a change is landing for them and nobody is allowed to respond.
Borrowed from the meeting format of Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step recovery groups. Read the original source.
One session · Minutes to start · Anyone on the team can start it
Try this first
One round, one sentence each. Here is where this sits with me right now. Nobody responds.
Use it when
An emotionally charged team moment (say, anxiety about AI and jobs) where the instinct to solve shuts people down.
Skip it when
Do not run it where people are afraid to speak, or where the leaders in the room punish honesty. You will get silence or polished non-answers, which does more harm than not running it.
How to introduce it
State the one rule before you start. Each person speaks about how the change is landing for them, and nobody else may respond, offer solutions, give advice, or argue. Tell them plainly that the urge to help will arrive, and that resisting it is the entire exercise.
How to show up
Your only job is protecting the rule. Do not steer what people say and do not add your own view. The moment someone starts to respond, stop them gently and return the room to listening.
How long it takes
About five minutes to explain the rule, then two to three minutes per person for the round. There is no correct total length. It takes as long as people need in order to feel heard.
What makes it hard
The first person to break the rule sets the pattern, so stop that immediately and kindly. Senior people find the silence hardest, so brief them beforehand. When a silence falls, let it sit. The pauses are part of how it works.
What it looks like when it's working
People say things they would not normally say in a meeting. The room goes quiet and attentive. Someone gets emotional and nobody rushes to rescue them. Staying on the surface and slipping into advice means the safety is not there yet.
How long until it sticks
It often works the first time if the team already feels safe with one another. It tends to deepen with repeated use rather than reach a finished state.
How you know it stuck
You will know the team has made it theirs when someone asks for a no-fix round without you suggesting it.
The idea behind it
The goal is for people to feel heard, not for anyone's problem to get solved. Here, listening without responding is the work.
Where it comes from
Twelve-step recovery groups. When people are anxious about AI and their jobs, the instinct to solve it is exactly what shuts them up. Each person speaks in turn about how something is landing for them. Nobody interrupts, advises, rebuts, or analyzes anyone else.
Why it matters for senior teams
Saying how something is landing for you, without fixing it, is hardest for senior leaders, and it matters most when they do it, because the rest of the team follows their lead