The Rules of Engagement are short, simple, and applied to every learning moment in the studio — discussions, focused work, Town Hall, partner work, Quest. They're the operating system for showing up to learn. We aim for 3 to 5. Never more. The studio drafts them in Week 1 and finalizes at Town Hall #2.
A list of 12 rules is a list nobody remembers. A list of 4 is a list everyone can recite. The Rules of Engagement are the recited rules — the ones a learner can say out loud during a launch reminder, without checking the poster.
Conversation starters for the Week 1 Town Hall. Studio can take, modify, or replace. Floor: must be 3–5 total, must be simple enough to say from memory.
Side conversations break the room. We listen with our whole bodies. Speak when it's your turn.
Whenever possible, start with "Yes, and..." or "Building on what [name] said..." Don't restart from scratch every time.
"I see it differently" is fine. "You're wrong" with eye-rolls is not. Attack the idea, not the human.
If you don't have something to say, you don't have to. "Pass" is a complete answer.
Transitions happen on time. Conversations end. The schedule is real.
Step 1: a peer gives a kind reminder ("Hey — one voice at a time.").
Step 2: if it happens again, the Excellence Leader names it.
Step 3: if it persists, a guide pulls aside privately. Never publicly correct unless it's an active safety issue.
Step 4: brought to Town Hall as a pattern, not as a person — "We've been struggling to hold X this week. What do we want to do?"