Does anonymity in DAOs lead to more effective teams?

Can we reach new levels of psychological safety and finally bring our true selves to our teams through anonymity and avatars.

As I spend more time contributing DAOs and understanding the working agreements and team norms, I’ve wondered lately if I should take the time to “re-brand” to introduce my anonymous (anon) self.

When I showed up, I didn’t know any better. I hadn’t ever heard the term doxxed, and all I had was my IRL (in real life) experience that would, of course, lead me to believe that you would trust this person over this avatar.

That is until I give you the context that all team meetings look like this.

Now, who do you trust more, who has more credibility, and who creates more psychological safety in the team?

So why does that matter?

In 2012 Google started a research initiative called Project Aristotle to understand the attributes of the "Perfect Team." The results they found surprised even themselves, and I think DAOs and anonymity could have an undiscovered unlock to team effectiveness worth exploring.

Google’s Project Aristotle

In 2012 Google started a research initiative called Project Aristotle to understand the attributes of the "Perfect Team."

It's safe to say that most leaders default to the common assumption that "the best teams are made up of the best people and talent." Best, of course, is subjective, but to give a simple example.

If we want a team of the best front-end web developers to deliver new features as quickly as possible to production, then put all our most talented front-end web developers on the same team.

There is nothing wrong with this assumption; it’s very natural. I’ll admit that I've made it and backslide into that mental model from time to time. It seems pretty clear and straightforward. It's your "Varsity vs. Jr. Varsity" analogy if you think of it as sports teams.

That’s precisely what Google thought until they dug into the data.

We all know Google loves data. The company was built on a foundation of data. Its mission statement is: to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

So Google ate its own dog food for the research initiative and dug into the data across 180 teams. That's when something unexpected happened. It was near impossible to find a pattern.

Abeer Dubey, the Director of People Analytics, said:

“We had lots of data, but nothing was showing that a mix of specific personality types or skills or backgrounds made any difference. The ‘who’ part of the equation didn’t seem to matter.’’

‘‘At Google, we’re good at finding patterns,’’ Dubey said. ‘‘There weren’t strong patterns here.’’

What Google did learn after a year of research was that understanding and influencing group norms were the keys to improving Google’s teams. It turned out it was less about "who" was on the team but rather "how" the team worked together.

The number one indicator of an effective and high-performing team was if it had psychological safety.

Psychological Safety is defined by Amy Edmonson from Harvard Business School as:

‘‘A shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.’’

Psychological Safety in DAOs

So this takes me to my question or maybe the hypothesis I'm trying to form:

"Does anonymity in DAOs leads to a higher potential for psychological safety"?

Do DAOs have an advantage over traditional organizations because, as an anon, we can shed unconscious bias, our "old stories" about each other, we can be more vulnerable and ask the questions we are afraid to ask?

The other part about remaining anon is that we can bring our true selves to our teams. Not the self we have created or the self we think we need to live up to.

I know that since joining DAOs seven months ago, all I have done is asked for help. I never feared this would make me look stupid, hurt my ability for a promotion, or hurt my reputation. It's been embraced, led to opportunity, and helped my reputation.

Until about a month ago, I didn't know the term "doxxed" or what it meant. I now know it to be "information scattered and assembled across the internet used to reveal the person behind the alias."

Well, no one had to assemble it. I had no idea what I was doing when I started and started my DAO "career" doxxed.

It's a difficult paradigm and mental model to wrap your brain around when you are used to how we have worked since we entered the workforce.

We need a resume, we need a reputation, we need credibility, we need a title, we need to get a big promotion, and the list goes on…. Otherwise, how will anyone know how good I am, and why will anyone care I'm here if they don't know what I'm capable of or what I've done. (Does any of this self-talk sound familiar?)

That’s the beauty of DAOs; it’s about the work, the team, the shared values, the belief systems, and the governance frameworks that keep it all running.

It’s about how you show up and what you do daily, whether wearing my corporate mask or my DAO avatar. I have always attempted to find a way to make myself of value, stay curious and contribute to the good vibes around me.

Wage - My Chippi

I decided it was time to trade in my headshot for an avatar and commissioned my first NFT.

While it’s likely too late to un-doxx myself, I better understand the culture, team atmosphere, and good vibes I want to help build. It was important to me to have an avatar authentically represented and connected with me, so I reached out to perchy.eth to commission a custom Chippi.

So Meet Wage:

Wage believes in finding a way to financial freedom through creative expression, purpose, and mastery. Always collaborating and encouraging the art of the possible through the foundation of improv. Yes, and…

Wage is a tip of the cap to Wage House, the improv theater started by my wife and her business partner that we, unfortunately, had to close over Covid. DAO communities are my new Improv communities, and this is my way of bringing my true self to my DAO teams through anonymity one step at a time…