🧭 Chapter 1: It Started With a Broken Chain of Trust
Ten months ago, I took over a team that was—frankly—on the verge of collapse.
The structure had been led by previous leads and managers who were doing their best, but the cracks were everywhere. People were tired. Communication was scattered. And the trust between leadership, middle management, and operational teams had quietly eroded.
There was no one person to blame. This wasn’t about incompetence.
It was about disconnection.
I didn’t walk into a crisis.
I walked into a system drifting quietly toward failure—and no one was steering.
💥 Chapter 2: “This Is Just the Way It Is” — Or Is It?
The previous lead-level figures, before I stepped in, were overwhelmed. They carried too many responsibilities, too little clarity, and rarely had time to reflect—let alone lead.
When I started asking basic questions like:
- “What’s blocking the team?”
- “Who owns what?”
- “When do we celebrate wins?”
The most common response was:
“That’s just how we’ve been doing it.”
That answer scared me.
Because it meant we had normalized dysfunction.
🧱 Chapter 3: Rebuilding From the Ground Up
The first thing I noticed: the frontline teams weren’t lazy or disengaged—they were unseen.
Many had stopped raising issues because they didn’t believe anything would change. Others quietly carried stress to avoid being labeled “difficult.”
And the leads before me?
They were doing their best to survive, but survival isn’t leadership.
I knew if I wanted to manage the worst, I had to start by resetting expectations and rebuilding safety.
🔍 Chapter 4: Lessons From the Eye of the Storm
The past 10 months have taught me more than any book or framework ever could. Here’s what I’ve learned, the hard way:
1. You can’t fix systems by pushing harder—only by seeing clearer.
I used to think effort was enough. But effort without alignment is just motion.
We had to step back and ask:
What’s really broken here?
That’s when I saw the root issue:
The vision wasn’t being translated. The feedback wasn’t being captured. And the people in the middle were burned out trying to hold both ends.
2. You don’t replace a bad manager—you replace a broken loop.
I didn’t come to blame the former leads. They didn’t fail.
The system failed them.
So rather than replacing them with new “heroes,” we designed new loops:
- Clear feedback paths
- Safe escalation systems
- Weekly rhythm to sync bottom-up and top-down context
This wasn’t about building a better hierarchy.
It was about building better conversation.
3. Lead by listening—not by commanding.
At one point, a team member said something that stuck with me:
“We were moving, but we didn’t feel led.”
I realized: leadership isn’t about being the loudest voice.
It’s about making the quietest voices feel heard.
⚙️ Chapter 5: The System We Built to Withstand the Worst
To manage these breakdowns, we created what I call our Resilience Framework:
A. Psychological First Aid: 1-on-1 Check-ins Every Week
Not to “monitor progress,” but to hear the humans behind the tasks.
We started asking:
- “What’s draining you?”
- “What’s one thing you wish leadership understood this week?”
Small questions, big truths.
B. Rotating Weekly Facilitators (Decentralizing Ownership)
Instead of one person always leading meetings, we rotated facilitators.
This gave everyone a voice and broke the passive “waiting for direction” culture.
Ownership increased. Silos broke. People felt seen.
C. Transparent Planning + Cross-Level Review
We introduced joint review sessions where:
- CEO sets north star
- I translate that into roadmap strategy
- Teams share realistic timeframes and risks
No sugarcoating.
No ego-stroking.
Just reality, discussed like adults.
D. Post-Mortems Without Punishment
When something failed, we dug in—not to blame, but to learn.
We’d ask:
- What signal did we miss?
- What assumption turned out false?
- What safeguard can we add next time?
This helped transform fear into curiosity.
E. Weekly “Win Wall” to Rebuild Morale
Every Friday, we posted wins—big or small.
- A bug fixed that saved 3 hours a week
- A customer shoutout
- A brave “no” said in a planning call
This gave the team a sense of forward motion, even when the bigger picture was messy.
🌱 Chapter 6: What Changed After 10 Months
It’s not perfect. It never is.
But here’s what I can tell you:
- The team now raises concerns before they become fires.
- Leadership listens earlier and reacts slower.
- Our morale score increased.
- And the culture of “just get it done” became “let’s get it right—together.”
Most importantly, we stopped pretending.
We started working like one unit again.
💬 Chapter 7: A Letter to the “Old Me” Ten Months Ago
Dear me,
You’re not here to be the hero.
You’re here to be the connector.
You’re not here to replace the past.
You’re here to learn from it.
And no, you won’t get it all right.
But if you stay curious, humble, and fiercely protective of your team’s trust—
you’ll be okay.
And they will be too.
🧭 Final Thoughts: Leadership Is Inheriting What’s Broken—And Still Choosing to Build
Managing the worst-case doesn’t mean fixing everything.
It means holding space for what’s broken—and having the courage to begin again.
To anyone inheriting a messy team, burnt culture, or confused structure:
Don’t try to save it. Understand it. Then design better.
That’s what I tried to do for the past 10 months.
And I’m still learning.
Every day.
Closing Note
If you’re in the middle of rebuilding something broken—let’s connect. I’ve been there. Sometimes still am.
📩 Reach out via sixstarters@gmail.com or visit Sixstarter.com for our leadership design tools and resources.
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