I asked Chris Sims what a leader should do when the team is behind.
Chris Sims: ask what support that team needs to learn and adapt.
When did you last ask your team what support they need — this week, or can't remember?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.social
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialI asked Chris Sims what a leader should do when the team is behind.
Chris Sims: ask what support that team needs to learn and adapt.
When did you last ask your team what support they need — this week, or can't remember?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialHere's the part I had wrong for a long time.
I thought his leadership had made a judgment about him. They hadn't. They were stuck too. All of them. And I didn't see it.
The last person you wrote off — judged, or stuck? One word.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialChris Sims has a name for it: everyone is busy, but delivery is slow.
Everybody's working hard and staying late, and it takes longer and longer to get anything done.
Is that your team right now? Yes or no.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialChris Sims: "When I've been brought into organizations and they're behind, I find out somebody set them up to fail."
New episode out today.
The date your team is behind on — realistic when it was set? Yes or no.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialNew episode: The Harder You Work, The Behinder You Get, with Chris Sims.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialI was wrong about what I'd find in that building.
Not resistance. Agreement. Everybody nodding. Sessions went fine. And nothing moved, because nobody said the hard thing out loud.
On your team right now — resistance, or agreement? One word.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialSomeone with a lot of responsibility who isn't emotionally strong can wreck a team.
They pass the blow to the team — now nobody knows who to look to.
Apriel Biggs.
Who absorbs the blow on your team — the leader, or someone else?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialSometime this week, look at your team and ask yourself one question. Be honest.
Who here cannot leave? Not who won't. Who can't.
How many came to mind — zero, one, or more?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialFalling behind is a position, not a verdict.
A verdict is a judgment about what somebody is. Complacent — verdict. Checked out — verdict. You can't do anything useful with a verdict except carry it.
What verdict has your team been carrying? One word.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialI do it sometimes. You set the goal. Did you say it out loud, in front of the team, in words they can repeat back?
A goal that lives in your head isn't a goal. It's an intention.
Could your team repeat your goal back right now — yes or no?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialYou don't fix it with a pep talk.
Find out who's catching it, count what they've been carrying, and put something back. Resilience is a resource — somebody's spending theirs.
What did you put back this week — time, cover, or credit?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialHere's what would make me wrong.
If the name that comes back is the person with the most authority, that's a bottleneck. That is not the catcher.
New Sidebar out today.
Did you get a bottleneck or a catcher?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialWhen something goes wrong, who on your team finds out first?
Ask them. Just that. Then come back and tell me the name.
New Sidebar out today: Somebody Takes the First Hit.
Was it the name you expected — expected, or surprised?
@redefinewinning.bsky.socialWant to build teams that think together? Book a consultation with Co-Exponential: coexponential.com/consultation
#CoExponential #CollectiveIntelligence #TeamPerformance #Leadership #TeamAlignment #OrganizationalCulture #DecisionMaking #FutureFocused
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialThe reward for absorbing well is to absorb more. New Sidebar — Somebody Takes the First Hit.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialTen days before it launched, this show didn't have a trailer.
I wasn't lazy. I wasn't unqualified. I was behind. Those are different things.
What's one thing you're behind on that people have quietly read as something else?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialWhat should leaders stop doing immediately?
Apriel Biggs: not talking to the people doing the work — especially the ones managers say aren't delivering.
The last person a manager flagged to you — did you go talk to them? Yes or no.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.social"In God I trust. Everybody else, bring data."
Apriel Biggs on why senior leaders go get their own data instead of waiting for the deck.
When did you last see the work yourself, not the report — days, weeks, or months?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.social"Tell me where you flagged this and we missed it."
Own the team's failure and you get the truth. Don't, and you get silence.
Apriel Biggs, out today.
When your team is behind, what's your first question — "what happened," or "who"?
@redefinewinning.bsky.social