Uncomfortable

When I start working with a leader or organisation, things are usually already uncomfortable.

Momentum has stalled. Friction has built. The place has become difficult to be in.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a leadership meeting when someone made a comment. Small, almost in passing. It began, as many things had that morning, with: "This is no criticism…"

Around the table, bodies tightened. Shoulders. Jaws. Someone shifted back in their chair.

No one said anything.

Later, I asked the group whether they had noticed how often people that morning had begun that way.

They hadn't.

The phrase had become so familiar that no one heard it anymore. But the room was responding to it.