@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.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?
@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"?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialA capability gap and a clarity gap produce the exact same status report. Red. Behind. Slipping. Opposite fixes.
A capability problem is "they can't." A clarity problem is "nobody said."
Your red project right now — can't, or nobody said?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialNobody ever asked him a question that would have found any of that out. No one, including me.
You don't investigate a verdict. A verdict is the answer.
When did you last ask instead of conclude — this week, or can't remember?
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialIndividually competent. Collectively behind.
Both things can be true at the same time, and most leaders only see the second one.
New sidebar out now.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialWhen a team falls behind, the leader almost always has a theory about why.
The theory is usually wrong.
Tomorrow's sidebar goes all the way into it.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.social"One of the things that drives me nuts are the fake apologies. The 'I'm sorry if I offended you' apologies."
Brandon Raines on what real repair looks like when a leader gets it wrong.
Episode 3 of The Lagging Team.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialYou didn't win the retention war.
The war was called off.
Episode 2 of The Lagging Team is out now.
@thelaggingteam.bsky.socialFalling behind is a position, not a verdict.
A verdict is what you are. A position is where you are.
One of those you can change.
The Lagging Team is live — three episodes out today.