Better Teams
From Hand-Made Rituals to Digital Frameworks
Teams fail more often for emotional reasons than technical ones. Better Teams is a practical toolbox for turning trust, cohesion, fairness, and repair into repeatable operating practices — designed to survive real work pressure.
What this book is
This is not another culture manifesto. It’s a set of short, actionable practices you can run in ordinary meetings — five-minute check-ins, conflict repair protocols, and simple fairness structures that reduce burnout, prevent silent failure, and keep teams able to solve problems tomorrow.
Each practice is written as a usable tool:
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Why it works (psychology + team mechanics)
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How to run it step by step
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What signals show it’s working
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How to adapt it across team size and culture
The By Design Manifesto
Most teams run on accident. Better Teams is built around five design principles that turn “culture” from hope into structure:
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Intentional, not accidental
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Functional, not performative
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Sustainable, not exhausting
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Adaptable, not rigid
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Beautiful, not ugly
These principles are the standard behind every tool in the book — and behind the Better Teams operating model.
Who it’s for
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Individual contributors who want less friction and more influence without needing a formal title
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New managers who must deliver results before they have real authority
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HR and People leaders who need interventions that go beyond policy and into daily operations
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Founders and executives who need culture to scale as fast as the product
What you’ll learn
Organized as a progression from personal skills to scalable team architecture:
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See the invisible: psychological safety, cohesion dynamics, groupthink risk
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Individual toolkit: emotional vocabulary, regulation, journaling, listening, empathy, values and boundaries
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Collaboration architecture: dialogue, negotiation, decision protocols, role clarity, retrospectives
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Outcomes and fairness: hiring by outcomes, measurable fairness, role clarity
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Emotional KPI systems: making trust and cohesion visible without creating surveillance
Table of contents (condensed)
Part I — See the Invisible
Emotional reality of teamwork, psychological safety, belonging vs groupthink, minimum viable design.
Part II — The Individual Toolkit
Emotional vocabulary, regulation, journaling, listening, empathy, values & boundaries, profiles not labels, conflict, simulations, repair.
Part III — Architecture of Collaboration
Storytelling, dialogue, negotiation, framing, decision-making protocols, role clarity, feedback loops.
Part IV — Outcomes, Fairness, Role Clarity
Fairness by design, hiring by design, outcomes not proxies, selection profiles, cohesion at scale.
Part V — Emotional KPI Systems
Measuring what matters, repair loop, cohesion as KPI, digital tools & boundaries, remote/hybrid cohesion, repair at scale.
Disclaimer
This book reflects practical experience in business and team development. It is not psychological/therapeutic advice or legal counsel.
