After 35 years of working with leaders and teams, I've noticed something.

When things start slowing down, it's rarely because people suddenly forgot how to do their jobs.

I've seen it in operating rooms, startups, and SMBs trying to scale.

A capable leader starts hesitating over decisions they once would have made without thinking twice. A confident team starts second-guessing things they already know how to do.

The ability is still there.

Something has just gotten in the way of accessing it.

What gets in the way?

Pressure, pace, a role that's shifted around you, or a conversation you've been avoiding longer than you'd like to admit. They all have an impact.

And it usually doesn't happen all at once.

You override an instinct here. Second-guess yourself there. Wait for someone else's opinion when you already know what you think.

Do it often enough, and what once felt natural starts to feel harder than it needs to.

A different question

That's the part I find interesting.

We can spend a lot of time trying to fix something that may not actually be broken.

Sometimes it's worth asking a different question:

What's getting between you and what you already know?

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