Uncomfortable

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

Momentum has stalled. Friction has built up. The culture has become part of the problem. The place has become hard to be in.

There was never any peace to keep. There was never any peace.

The path out requires more discomfort, not less. The hard truths have to surface. The conversations people have been avoiding have to happen.

Just a few weeks ago I was sitting in a leadership meeting. One of them made a comment. Small, almost in passing. Around the table, bodies tightened — shoulders, jaws, someone shifting back in their chair. No one said anything.

So I asked whether they'd noticed that multiple people around the table, several times that morning, had opened with this is no criticism..

They hadn't.

The discomfort passes. The alternative compounds.