28 Oct, 18:00 · Imaguru, Warsaw · Poland Tech Week · “Stop Playing Referee”: how to end priority wars between Product & Eng. Free entry. Register →
End the priority wars
Teams break their own deadlocks and the company grows faster, without the boss stepping in.
Free 5-minute assessment: your Referee Score and three steps to try right away.
Worked with:
Sound familiar?
- Every priority dispute ends up on your desk.
- The roadmap stalls while decisions wait for your verdict.
- Your best people check out: “not my call.”
Every week of deadlock means a slipping roadmap, wasted budget and team leaders who learn to wait.
From deadlock to teams that don't need a referee
We blend two schools of negotiation: Harvard's interest-based approach and tactical empathy, drawn from crisis negotiation. The first reveals what a dispute is really about. The second defuses the emotions before they lock it in place.
- 01We diagnose
Deadlock map
We sit down with your leadership team and team leaders to pinpoint the disputes you're stuck in and what's really driving them. You see exactly where the company is losing pace and why, even when the cause sits higher up.
- 02We train
Tools for team leaders
Your team leaders practise on live disputes, not textbook cases: questions that lower resistance, naming the other side's concerns, finding common ground. They leave with a script they can use the very next day.
- 03We embed
Teams without a referee
Every dispute gets 48 hours to reach a decision inside the team. Only what truly needs you reaches you, and it arrives ready: two options, their costs and a joint recommendation.
The result: Projects keep moving, teams close disputes on their own, and you only decide what really matters.
How many projects are stalled waiting for your decision?
Free, 5 minutes, results on screen instantly.
- 01Your Referee Score: how much depends on you (0–100)
- 02Your results in three areas: decision rights, escalation path, how teams talk
- 03Three concrete steps to try right away
About Inês
I believe teams don't need a referee. They need the tools to settle disputes on their own.
I learned this as Lead Product Manager at the Schibsted group, running a product used by 12 million people and balancing the interests of 60 digital brands.
Today I use interest-based negotiation and tactical empathy to help scale-ups turn deadlocks into decisions quickly and without escalation.
20% of the profit from every project funds dialogue and negotiation workshops for Warsaw high-school students.
What people say about working with Inês
At 351, we recommend Inês to any organization seeking a specialist capable of empowering teams, accelerating learning, and promoting a culture of innovation driven by processes and results.Frequently asked questions
No. We don't teach people to “be nicer to each other”. We treat tension between teams as operational data: it shows where goals collide and who lacks the authority to decide. What you're left with is written decision rules and a script your team leaders use in every dispute that follows, long after the workshop ends.
Often it is. Some deadlocks start at the top: conflicting departmental goals, too many priorities at once, a direction that shifts every quarter. No team workshop fixes that. If the diagnosis shows it, we tell you first and help your leadership team make the missing decisions before we work with the teams. We don't write your strategy, but we make its gaps visible and impossible to ignore.
That's exactly why you need it. The formats are short: from a 45-minute talk to a 3-hour workshop built on your real disputes. Every dispute that lands on the leadership team's desk each week costs more in time and delayed projects than one afternoon spent setting the rules.
Deadlocks between tech and business almost always follow the same mechanics: conflicting KPIs and unclear decision rights. We're not trying to make the teams best friends. We change the rules of the game: no team leader escalates alone, and leadership only sees two options with their costs and a joint recommendation, within 48 hours.
The first shift usually shows right after the workshop: team leaders stop escalating disputes they can settle themselves. Lasting change comes once the rules become part of everyday work. The pace depends on how many teams are involved and how deep the disputes run, so we'll map it out together on a call.