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Pact 4 of 6 · Constructive Conflict

Truth Pact

Agenda PDF unavailable

The agreement about how we disagree — whether hard truths get named, and whether conflict sharpens or damages us.

Overview

The Truth Pact is about the team's relationship with disagreement. High-performing teams do not avoid conflict; they make it productive and bounded.

Two failures are common: artificial harmony, where dissent is swallowed, and unproductive conflict, where disagreement becomes personal. Both leave the important, uncomfortable truths unnamed.

Clarity of decision rights matters here. Much apparent conflict is really confusion about who decides and how much consultation was expected.

Signs of strength

  • •Dissenting views raised in the room, not the corridor
  • •Conflict sharpens thinking and ends cleanly
  • •Feedback given directly and in a timely way
  • •Decision rights are explicit

Signs of strain

  • •Meetings end in agreement, corridors end in doubt
  • •Feedback saved for formal processes
  • •The same issue raised repeatedly without resolution
  • •Conflict avoided because it once went badly

Questions worth asking

  • “What is the truth about this team's performance that we do not say out loud?”
  • “What happens to the person who disagrees here?”
  • “Who decides, and how much consultation is expected?”

Workshop agenda

Half day (3.5 hours)

This agenda is currently being updated and is not available to run or download. It's shown here for reference only.

Outcome: Named undiscussables, an agreed conflict protocol, and explicit decision rights.

  1. 0:00

    Frame & data walk-through

    Review Truth Pact scores. Note where alignment is lowest — that spread is itself the data.

  2. 0:25

    Conflict patterns

    Each member describes how they typically respond to conflict. Map the team's patterns.

  3. 1:00

    The undiscussables

    Anonymous written capture of what is not being said. Read aloud by the facilitator, unattributed.

  4. 1:30

    Break

    15 minutes.

  5. 1:45

    Working one truth

    Select the highest-value undiscussable and work it live with facilitation.

  6. 2:30

    Decision rights

    Clarify for recurring decision types: who decides, who is consulted, who is informed.

  7. 3:00

    Conflict protocol

    Agree how the team enters, holds, and exits disagreement — including repair.

  8. 3:20

    Commitments

    Each member names one piece of direct feedback they will give within two weeks.

Materials

Anonymous capture cards · Decision rights grid · Pact dashboard printout

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