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Passive-aggressive communication in team chat

🧭 worksocial problemSingle report ●●●●● severity 2/5

A new team member reports that colleagues frequently use dismissive phrases like 'As I said' or 'As discussed' in group chats, even when the information was not previously provided, creating a sense of being gaslit and making the reporter feel that asking questions is unwelcome.

Who's affected: A new employee in a technical team and possibly others in the same organization.

⚠️ Single report. This is one person's account. We mark it so until more voices confirm it.

What people do today

🔧 Fix this

Ideas a builder, maker or community group could start on:

  1. A team communication charter template that defines acceptable professional tone and discourages passive-aggressive phrasing in public channels.
  2. A browser extension or Slack/Teams bot that flags potentially condescending language in real-time and suggests more collaborative alternatives.
  3. A workshop curriculum for engineering teams on 'Radical Candor' to help colleagues address knowledge gaps without resorting to dismissive shorthand.
I want to build this

Real voices

“From my perspective it sounds like this person is exasperated and my questions are not welcome.”

Source: Stack Exchange (workplace) · CC BY-SA 4.0, user-contributed content from Stack Exchange; summarized and modified

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