5. It’s Vulnerable at the Top

Team development work is hardest right at the place where it matters most. At the top, in the senior leadership team.

And the reason is straightforward. The higher the stakes, the more reputation is on the line. And the more dangerous it feels to be visibly uncertain, wrong, or vulnerable.

Most senior leaders have spent decades building a professional identity of confidence and competence. That’s what got them here. But that same identity makes honest, risky conversations, genuinely harder to have. This isn’t a personal failing. Amy Edmondson’s 25 years of research into psychological safety, tells us that this difficulty is structurally understood and evidenced. Senior leaders are not getting this wrong.

They’re up against something that is simply at their level, very hard to achieve.

To explore this productively yourself, start with yourself and don’t try to change or be more open with others yet. Ask yourself, where do I feel genuinely vulnerable at work? Because that kind of honest self-reflection is where team development really takes off.