Assertiveness →
Responsiveness →
Owl
Eagle
Dove
Peacock
Efficient, low-drama, and quietly prone to two specific failures.
Where friction shows up
The first is analysis paralysis. Neither of you has a natural instinct to call the question, so you can research a decision well past the point where more information changes anything. The second is unspoken disagreement. Both of you tend to withdraw rather than escalate, so a real conflict can sit unaddressed for months while you each work around it.
What to do differently
- Agree in advance what evidence would be sufficient, then stop when you have it.
- Assign a decision owner and a date at the start, not the end.
- Say the disagreement out loud even when it feels unnecessary. Two people who both avoid conflict will produce a very polite failure.
- Build in a deliberate check on the people side. Neither of you will think to ask how the rest of the team is taking it.
What not to do
Do not let the shared comfort of precision substitute for progress.
One line to remember
Decide what "enough" looks like before you start.
Keep going
See your whole team on one map
Run the free assessment with your team and get a shared grid of who works how — then use guides like this for every pairing.
Start with your team — free