Your Team Is Screaming (But You're Not Listening)
The subtle signals that separate good leaders from great ones
A fellow leader recently asked me something that stuck: "How do I know when to step in and when to step back?"
Great question. Wrong focus.
The real question isn't when to act—it's whether you're actually sensing what's happening around you in the first place.
Your Leadership Operating System
Think about the last time you walked into a meeting. What did you notice?
Most leaders focus on the agenda, the slides, maybe the words being spoken. But what about the energy in the room? The person who hasn't said anything for twenty minutes? The subtle shift when a particular topic came up?
Leadership isn't just about making decisions. It's about reading the environment so you can make the right decisions at the right time.
The Five-Sense Leader
Your team is constantly sending signals. The question is: are you receiving them?
What you see: Body language, engagement levels, who's participating and who's checking out. That developer who usually asks questions but has been silent for three weeks? That's data.
What you hear: Not just the words, but the tone, the pace, what's not being said. When someone says "everything's fine" but their voice suggests otherwise—that's your cue.
What you sense: The energy shift when you enter a room. The tension that builds during certain discussions. The excitement that's missing from what should be a celebration.
Most leaders operate with only one or two senses engaged. The best leaders are constantly scanning with all of them.
The Situational Awareness Challenge
Here's what I've learned from watching leaders who get this right: they're constantly adjusting their approach based on what they're sensing.
Sometimes your team needs you to step in and guide. Sometimes they need you to step back and let them figure it out. Sometimes they need encouragement. Sometimes they need a reality check.
But you can't make those calls if you're not paying attention to the signals.
The Art of Leadership Timing
One of the most powerful leadership skills is knowing when to switch hats. When to move from coach to cheerleader to truth-teller to supporter.
But that requires you to be present. Really present. Not thinking about your next meeting or the email you need to send, but fully tuned in to what's happening right now with your team.
The leader who can sense when someone is struggling before they ask for help? That's next-level leadership.
The leader who can feel when the team is ready for a bigger challenge, even when they haven't said so? That's how you accelerate growth.
The leader who notices when morale is shifting before it becomes a problem? That's how you prevent crises instead of just managing them.
The leadership awareness we're talking about here doesn't develop overnight—it takes practice, feedback, and often an outside perspective to help you see what you're missing. That's where I come in. Whether you need fractional CTO support, agile coaching, or leadership development, I help companies build leaders who truly understand their teams. Visit kazi.io to learn more.
Your Development Focus
Instead of asking "What should I do?" start asking "What am I sensing?"
Before your next one-on-one, take thirty seconds to really observe. How does this person seem today? What's their energy like? What are they not saying?
Before your next team meeting, scan the room. Who seems engaged? Who seems disconnected? What's the overall vibe?
Before you give feedback, pause and sense: Is this person ready to hear this? What do they need from me right now?
The Wide-Open Leader
The best leaders I know operate with what I call "wide-open awareness." They're constantly taking in information from their environment and adjusting their approach accordingly.
They know when to lean in and when to step back. When to challenge and when to support. When to speak and when to listen.
But none of that is possible if you're not paying attention.
Your Assignment
For the next week, try this: Before every interaction with your team, take a moment to really sense what's happening.
What do you notice that you normally miss? What signals is your team sending that you've been overlooking?
Leadership isn't just about having the right answers. It's about being aware enough to know what questions to ask, when to ask them, and how to respond to what you discover.
Your team is constantly communicating with you. The question is: are you listening with all your senses?
Josh Anderson
Editor-In-Chief
The Leadership Lighthouse
From the Studio
This newsletter was inspired by a conversation Bob Galen and I had about the different "hats" leaders need to wear—and more importantly, knowing when to switch between them. We dove deep into ten specific leadership hats, from being a follower and truth-teller to knowing when to step back and let your team struggle a bit.
The timing of when to wear which hat is everything, and that only comes from developing the kind of situational awareness we're talking about here. If you want to explore the specific leadership roles and mindsets that make the biggest difference, check out our latest episode where we go through each hat in detail.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube.