You ask your team for ideas and get…silence. Before you blame a lack of creativity, ownership, or initiative, consider this: the problem may not be your people. It may be how - and when - you’re asking them to think.

What makes this tricky is that it’s usually not intentional. It’s leaders overusing the strengths that make them successful — without realizing where those same strengths are creating gaps for their team.

You can feel overworked and underutilized at the same time. The real issue isn’t always workload.

What happens when a leader refuses to lower the bar and dares to believe that a disconnected, underperforming team is capable of greatness?

Confusion is costly. Misalignment slows you down. And if your team is constantly reacting instead of anticipating - there’s likely a daily communication gap you haven’t addressed.

Instead of working against one another, they could now work with one another—leveraging each other’s strengths instead of feeling frustrated