Your Team Is Running a Model of You A director on my team stopped on her way out of a one-on-one, came back, and sat down. "When you write 'sure' on something, do you know what we do with it?" I didn't. "We rewrite it. 'Great' means you're in. 'Sounds good' means you'll live with it. 'Sure' means it's getting through and you don't believe in it. So we go back and fix whatever made you write 'sure.'"

Disengagement doesn't happen overnight. It starts in small moments when someone stops feeling seen, challenged, trusted, or clear about where they're headed.