Doubt

It doesn’t announce itself. It starts as a niggle. Nothing you can point to. Just a shift in the air.

What happens next is predictable, even if it’s rarely named. The leader gets tighter. Decisions that were delegated get pulled back. Emails get shorter or longer, one or the other. People start reading into things. The team picks it up without knowing what they’re picking up.

The problem isn’t the doubt itself. Doubt is reasonable. Things are uncertain. Clients don’t call back. Deals fall through. Deadlines slip. That’s the game.

The problem is what leaders do with it — usually unconsciously. They start arguing with the uncertainty instead of sitting with it. They seek control where there isn’t any. They lose patience with the people around them.

The team feels it. They just don’t know what it is.

The team isn’t experiencing the situation. They’re experiencing the leader’s relationship with it.

It starts with a niggle. It rarely ends there.

What is your team picking up right now?