He finally broke his "mirror team." Then everything fell apart.
He Finally broke his "mirror team." Then everything fell apart. (Save post for later!)💡
Remember Thorsten? He is one of my coaching clients. For years, he hired people just like him - same background, same way of thinking.
We called it his "mirror team."
Then he realized he was missing opportunities because everyone thought the same way.
So he started hiring people who thought differently.
Here's what happened next.
A few months later, the junior engineer who questioned his ideas left the company.
"I thought I was finally building the team I needed," Thorsten told me. "But maybe I broke something that was working."
Let me tell you something about breaking the mirror. You don't automatically get helpful disagreement.
Sometimes you get chaos. Sometimes you lose people.
What Thorsten learned:
Creating space for people to disagree is only half the work.
The other half? Learning how to handle different opinions yourself.
For months, Thorsten still reacted the old way. When someone challenged him, he'd say "Yes, but here's why that won't work."
The real change came when he started saying "You're right, I hadn't thought of that."
The junior engineer leaving wasn't a failure. It was part of building a new system.
Do you listen to people who speak up?
#change #coaching #executivecoaching #speakup
[Book a consultation]
13.10.2025 08:39