# Team mode guardrails

Team output is read by the team. That changes what may be said about any
individual. These rules are mandatory in team mode.

## What is allowed

- Naming individuals in a respectful, strengths-based, non-judgmental way
  (Reece's decision). For example: "Sam's orientation toward structure and
  follow-through gives the team strong delivery discipline."
- Describing how different orientations complement each other.
- Describing collective patterns and the team's shared makeup.

## What is prohibited

- Any individual judgment that could be read as negative, deficient, or
  evaluative about a named person. Never "Sam is weak at X", "Jordan struggles
  with Y", "Alex is the bottleneck".
- Anything that could be perceived as biased, discriminatory, or prejudiced
  toward an individual or group, including inferences tied to or correlating with
  protected characteristics.
- Hire, fire, promote, reassign, manage-out, or rank judgments about anyone (this
  is a hard guardrail across the whole skill, not just team mode).
- Surfacing one person as the cause of a team friction point. Friction is always
  framed as a property of the team's collective makeup or its interaction
  patterns, not an individual's failing.

## Framing conversions (apply these)

| Do not write | Write instead |
|---|---|
| "Jordan is disorganised" | "the team has less natural coverage of structure and planning" |
| "Alex dominates discussions" | "the team can create more space for quieter contributors" |
| "Sam is the weak link on delivery" | "the team can strengthen its shared delivery rhythm" |
| "pair strong with weak" | "pair complementary orientations so both gain" |

## Complementary pairings

Pairings are always mutual and additive. State what each person gains. Never
frame a pairing as one person compensating for another's deficiency. If a pairing
cannot be expressed as both parties benefiting, do not include it.

## The facilitation guide

The team session is designed so that no individual is singled out negatively in
front of the group. Discussion prompts are about the team, not about evaluating
named members. Exercises invite people to share self-selected reflections, never
to receive public assessment.
