Your Team Is Performing for You

You're in a meeting about a meeting about a meeting. And nobody in the room is going to say the real thing. One unknown on a six month project. One risk. The kind of thing you knew would happen because unknowns inevitably happen on six month projects. And now product and engineering are on a call. Not solving the problem. Rehearsing the story. Making sure the slide deck is right before it reaches the PMO. Because god forbid something slips by a few days and the wrong person finds out in the wrong room. The status updates get cleaner as the situation gets worse. When the slide deck looks polished but the project is on fire underneath, the team isn't solving the problem. They're managing perception. The meeting is where the work gets performed. Leaders who never see the mess can't lead through it. An audience can applaud or criticize. But they can't help. Because they don't know what's actually happening. And while four people are on a call perfecting a slide, nobody is fixing the thing