Someone corners you at your desk to vent about a coworker. You listen, you nod, you leave them feeling a little lighter. You didn’t do anything wrong. But you just became the container for someone else’s unresolved conflict.

There’s a name for this. It’s called triangulation. And once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

In this solo episode I walk through the psychology of why this pattern is so hard to give up, drawing on Murray Bowen’s family systems theory and evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar’s research on gossip as social bonding. I cover the three real reasons people avoid going direct: it’s not just conflict avoidance, it’s anxiety regulation, it’s a genuine need to be seen, and it’s risk avoidance around a relationship that actually matters. I also share what happened with a client of mine, I’m calling her Maya, who spent over a year in the same Friday coffee ritual before one sentence to her manager changed everything.

If you’ve ever been someone’s Friday coffee, or if you’re a manager wondering why the same tension keeps surfacing on your team quarter after quarter, this episode is for you.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• What triangulation is and why the triangle is more stable than a two-person relationship under stress
• The three real drivers behind this pattern: anxiety reduction, the need to be seen, and risk avoidance
• Why Robin Dunbar’s research on gossip reframes venting as something ancient and human, not just bad behavior
• Why the advice to just talk to them directly almost always gets ignored and what to say instead
• The one question to ask when someone pulls you into their conflict that actually helps them move
• Three concrete things managers can do to become someone people don’t have to vent around

CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Opening hook and introduction to triangulation

01:20 Murray Bowen and family systems theory: why the triangle is more stable than a two-person relationship under stress

02:24 How triangulation shows up at work: managers, HR, and the desk-side vent

03:00 Why the pattern feels good: anxiety reduction and Robin Dunbar on gossip as social bonding

04:47 Why “just talk to them directly” almost never works: you are asking someone to give up something that is working

05:45 Why the pattern never resolves the conflict: relief is real but temporary, and the same tension resurfaces

06:30 The third driver nobody names: risk avoidance and the real cost of going direct

07:50 The Maya story: a year of Friday coffee venting, one question, and one sentence that shifted everything

11:30 What to do when you are the third point in someone else’s conflict

11:47 Three concrete things managers can do right now

13:30 The bottom line: conflict avoided is conflict postponed

Visit tessbrigham.com to learn more about fixing the mess in the modern workplace.

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