How to Fix a Broken Team at Work: Start with What You Can’t See

 

You’ve tried team-building. You’ve shuffled responsibilities, given the feedback, added check-ins, maybe even brought in a consultant. But still…something’s broken. You have talented people on the team, but something isn’t clicking. Performance is flat, trust feels thin, and small tensions grow into big ones.

It’s tempting to blame a difficult personality or a talent gap. But here’s the truth most leaders miss: what’s broken in your team isn’t always what’s visible. And fixing it means looking beneath the surface.

 


The Problem Isn't Just Behavior - It's the System That Shapes It

When a team underperforms or feels stuck, leaders often reach for quick fixes: revise roles, set new goals, try a training session. But these address the symptoms, not the root.

The deeper issue? Psychological safety- or the lack of it.

Psychological safety is the invisible force that determines how people behave under stress, how they show up in conflict, and how likely they are to take risks, share ideas, or admit mistakes. Without it, your team can’t stretch, grow, collaborate, or innovate in real ways. And when it’s missing, things break, slowly and silently.

 

What a Broken Team Actually Looks Like

Here’s the tricky part: a low-safety team doesn’t always look dysfunctional on the surface. People still show up. Tasks get done. But under the surface:

  • Meetings feel scripted, not strategic
  • People stay silent when they disagree and have “meeting after the meeting” conversations
  • Problems fester because no one wants to "make it worse"
  • Innovation stalls because the cost of being wrong feels too high

And leadership often doesn’t see it. Research shows that 75% of leaders overestimate the psychological safety on their teams. Because the higher up you go, the more filtered the feedback gets.

 

How to Start Repairing What's Broken

 

1. Get Curious About Your Own Leadership Habits

Ask yourself:

  • Do I invite dissent or just tolerate it?
  • Do I reward speed and safety or depth and risk?
  • Do I create space for failure or only celebrate success?

You can’t ask your team to do something you haven’t modeled or aren’t creating space for.

2. Measure What You Can’t See

Psychological safety isn’t a vibe. It’s measurable.
Use something like the Fearless Organization Scan to get real data and take off the blindfold.

3. Build New Norms That Make Candor Safe

Change how meetings work. Start with:

  • Rotating who runs them
  • Setting ground rules for real talk
  • Inviting disagreement out loud
  • Create rituals that normalize risk-taking and failure.

4. Share Your Own Unpolished Thoughts

Great leaders don’t always have the right answer. When you admit mistakes, ask for feedback, or say “I’m not sure,” you make it safer for everyone else to do the same.

 


Want to Go Deeper?

If your team is stuck in low trust, hidden tension, or chronic underperformance, don’t settle for surface-level fixes. Download our free resource. Psychological Safety eBook: A Leader's Guide to Unlocking Team Performance

And if you're ready to go beyond the download, learn how our clients use the Fearless Organization Scan to uncover what’s really going on.

 

The Bottom Line

You don’t need to start over with a new team. You don’t need to fire someone or “crack down.” What your team needs is a leader who’s willing to dig deeper - to question the context in which the work happens, not just the content of it. 

Fixing a broken team at work starts with the invisible.
And once you see it, you can change everything