Addressing a Teammate Whose Conduct Excludes Colleagues and Dismisses Other Viewpoints

You are a product manager at Google. Someone on your product team is not acting inclusively: they do not seem to value the different backgrounds and points of view of the people they work with. What would you do? ```hint Separate behavior from the person Pin down which concrete behaviors you saw and who they affected before deciding whether this calls for a private conversation, a change to how the team works, or a report you should not handle alone. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is the teammate a peer I work with, someone who reports to me, or someone more senior? As a PM I usually have no formal authority over engineers or designers. - What kind of behavior is it: talking over or ignoring certain colleagues in meetings, leaving some people out of decisions, or remarks that may amount to harassment or discrimination? - Have the affected colleagues raised it with me, or have I only observed it myself? - Has anyone already spoken to the teammate about it? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Turning "not inclusive" into specific, observed behaviors and their effect on people and on the team's work - A private, direct conversation with the teammate that is clear about impact without labeling them - Attention to the colleagues affected, including what they want to happen - Team practices a PM controls (meeting format, decision process, credit for ideas) that make inclusion the default - A clear line for when conduct must be escalated, plus follow-up to confirm the behavior changed ### Follow-up Questions - What would you do if the person behaving this way were your own manager or a senior leader whose support your product needs? - The teammate says they did nothing wrong and the colleague is being too sensitive. How do you respond? - A month later, how would you know whether the situation actually improved?