The Early Signs Teams Ignore Before Things Get Hard

Most fires in organizations don’t start as fires. They start as smoke.

A tiny shift.
An assumption that turns into friction.
A meeting that looks quiet but doesn’t feel quiet.

The smoke usually looks like this:

• more assumptions than conversations

• peers avoiding each other

• leaders shrugging: “Not my call.”

• working alone is starting to feel easier

And when the smoke is ignored… it burns.

You can tell when trust burns:

• certain names quietly removed from meetings

• people nod, but don’t commit

• they stay quiet because it feels safest

• people tell the version that feels least risky

Accountability mutates.
People own the safest part of the work…
not the whole.

Some leaders only step in when the tension is already burning.
By then, communication becomes competition.
Collaboration slips into silos.
Trust drops into defensiveness.
Reaction takes over the team.

In forests, there’s someone who manages the conditions so fires don’t spread.
Teams don’t have that role.
But someone always senses the tension early.

If you look at a team you’ve worked with, what was the earliest “smoke” you noticed?