← Ideas · Field note 002
Whose gap is it anyway?
This week someone reached out to talk through a request that didn't feel right. A leader had an offsite coming up and wanted to run something with the team.
Request#002
- For
- My team
- Need
- Something on better decision making
- Format
- Workshop? Maybe something online?
- When
- Our offsite, in two weeks
The conversation · roughly how it went
I've got an offsite in two weeks. I want to run something on decision making.
The team needs to take more ownership.
What are they doing now that worries you?
They're quiet in meetings. They wait for me.
Are decisions running late?
Not really.
Are they getting things wrong?
No, the work's good.
So if this worked, what would be different?
I'd just like them to speak up more. Challenge things. Bring ideas.
That's the moment.
Option one
Design something for the offsite.
- A decision-making workshop
- Some coaching
- A confidence module
What they did
Look at the work first.
- Decisions on time
- Quality is good
- People act within their authority
The team could clearly do the job.
So they kept listening
There was a gap. It just sat somewhere else.
The team had plenty of ideas. They'd learned that challenging in meetings didn't land well, and that it was easier to wait.
Can the team do it?
YesIs the work getting done well?
YesHow are meetings run, and how is challenge received?
The gapAnd the leader was part of it.
What they did
The change happened where it needed to.
- 01
Share the evidence
The work is strong. Here's what shows it.
- 02
Show the pattern
What's behind the quiet, in the team's words.
- 03
Run a different meeting
Planned with the leader, built around inviting challenge.
Within a week. Nobody had to sit through a workshop.
The takeaway
Before you design for a gap, check whose gap it is.
The harder question
Everyone around me is rewarded for delivering. If I'm the one saying we don't need to build anything, how do I show my worth?
Tell the performance story yourself.
Most teams count what they ship. A consultant who prevents unnecessary work leaves very little to count. So you tell that story in the language the business already uses.
- 01
What did we find?
The real issue, and the evidence behind it.
- 02
What changed?
What's different a month later, in the leader's words and the team's.
- 03
What did it save?
The time, budget and attention a program would have used.
- 04
What happened to trust?
Whether the leader came back with the next request.
To close
The work you prevent is hard to see. Make it visible, and it becomes the reason people call you first.
Shared with permission. Details have been changed.
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