A Leadership Guide to Navigating Team Fit, Culture, and the Hard Calls

Some of the most confronting decisions you’ll make as a leader aren’t about strategy or scale, they’re about people. You might feel something before you can name it. A shift in the team dynamic, a performance slip or a sense that someone you’ve trusted is no longer quite in sync with where the business is going.

You rationalise it at first: Maybe they’re just going through something. Maybe it’ll pass. But the feeling lingers. You start noticing the impact on others and eventually, you’re forced to ask the question: “Is this still the right fit?”

These are the moments that test your leadership. Not just your decision-making, but also your integrity.

Disclaimer: Employment laws and HR regulations vary by country, state, and organisation. The information in this blog is for general guidance and educational purposes only. Before making any decisions regarding employee performance, redeployment, or termination, always consult your HR department and seek professional legal advice to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and company policies.

Start With What You Feel, Even If You Can’t Yet Name It

Leadership requires intuition and often, your first signal that something’s off doesn’t come in the form of a performance report, it comes as a feeling. That sixth sense that a team member is pulling back, or no longer showing up in the way they used to. They may be less engaged in meetings, the team’s energy may shift, collaboration gets strained or progress slows.

Before you act, or overreact, slow down! Ask yourself: 

• What’s really changed? 

• Is this a temporary dip, a miscommunication, or something deeper? 

• Could this person be going through a hard time or a personal experience that is affecting their performance? 

The goal isn’t to jump to conclusions, it’s to create space for insight.

Be Curious, Not Reactive

Once you notice a shift, the next step is curiosity. As a leader, it’s your job to uncover the root cause, not assume it. Something’s changed, but what? Is it personal? Is it the result of a new hire or a shift in team dynamics? Could it be a misalignment with evolving company values or direction?

Create psychological safety by checking in with genuine care. Ask open-ended questions. Listen without defensiveness. You’re not conducting an investigation, you’re extending a hand. This isn’t about blame or justification, it’s purely an exercise in leadership and understanding.

Some questions that can open the door:

• How have you been feeling about work lately?

• What’s been energising you and what’s been draining you?

• What’s feeling clear in your role right now, and what isn’t?

• Is there anything that’s been harder than usual lately?

• What do you need more of support, clarity, feedback, space?

Because here’s the thing: if they were like this when you first hired them, you wouldn’t have brought them in. Something’s shifted, and it’s your role as a leader to find out what and why.

Maybe it’s a personal issue they haven’t felt safe to share. Maybe it’s burnout or a skill gap that’s quietly grown. Maybe they’re unclear on what’s expected in their role. You won’t know until you ask… and make it safe enough for them to answer.

Leadership isn’t just about accountability, it’s about empathy and care. Create the conditions for the truth to surface, then decide where to go from there.

Support Comes Before Strategy

Once you’ve asked the right questions and truly listened the next step is support, not separation. If someone is no longer thriving in their current role, start by exploring what they need. Could coaching help? Is the challenge tactical or relational? Are they burnt out, or bored? Have they outgrown the role, but not the company?

Internal redeployment is often overlooked, but it can be a powerful solution. The person might still bring incredible value to a different team or a different context and it’s far more effective (and cost-efficient) to support a high-potential employee’s shift than to onboard from scratch.

Most people don’t underperform because they’re incapable. They underperform because they’re disconnected, misaligned or under-supported. That’s the part worth investigating first!

Not every check-in leads to a major breakthrough but without the effort and time, you'll never know what was possible. If after real support and honest conversations, things still don’t improve, that’s when a harder decision might be necessary but don’t skip the steps. As a leader, your job isn’t just to act, it’s to explore, support, and only then, decide.

Understand the Real Cost of Avoiding the Conversation

If you’ve exhausted all possibilities and still see no improvement, it may be time to make the hard decision. What often keeps leaders stuck isn’t indecision, it’s avoidance. You tell yourself it’s okay, make excuses, or lean on their tenure, the IP they hold, or how much you’ve already invested. This is the sunk cost fallacy: continuing with something (or someone) purely because of past investment, rather than current fit.

But the longer you ignore the issue, the greater the impact. One misaligned person can quietly erode culture, productivity, and morale and if your business relies too heavily on a single person’s undocumented knowledge, the risk is more than just relational, it’s operational.

Recognising the cost of avoidance is only the first step. Strong leadership doesn’t stop at identifying problems; it builds solutions. The best way to protect your business and your team is to reduce dependency on any one person and create systems that endure beyond individual contributions.

Document, Share, and De-Risk the Business

No matter how talented someone is, no one should be a single point of failure. If their potential departure feels catastrophic, that’s a business risk, not a justification to avoid hard decisions.

Strong leadership means building a resilient team: one where responsibilities, knowledge, and processes are shared. When documentation and visibility are baked into your culture, transitions whether internal or external are far less destabilising.

If Change Is Needed, Do It with Integrity

Sometimes, despite every effort, change becomes necessary. If it reaches that point, the way you handle it matters deeply. It’s essential to lead with respect, clarity, and care. That said, this article isn’t about the decision point itself. It’s about everything before that - the signals, the conversations, and the leadership required to either prevent offboarding or ensure it’s truly the right next step.

If offboarding does become unavoidable, remember this: employment laws and HR policies vary across states, countries, and organisations. Work closely with your HR team to ensure compliance but also fairness and humanity. Legal doesn’t always equal personal. We hear too many stories of people being let go after five, seven, ten years - sometimes longer, people who’ve poured their lives into a company, only to be ushered into a room and read a cold, pre-approved script leaving the employee blindsided. The process, although technically compliant with HR, is utterly devoid of care. We can do better than that. Leaders must do better than that.

Conclusion

The best leaders don’t rush to conclusions, they lean into discomfort. They notice what others miss. They ask the deeper questions. They take the time to understand the full picture before deciding what comes next. 

Something doesn’t feel right? That’s the signal. Start there, because in the end, leadership isn’t just about making hard calls. It’s about doing the work to understand whether a hard call is even the right one.

Looking for a Program to Empower Your Workforce?

If you’re seeking the kind of leadership development that empowers courageous, capable leaders at every level of your organisation, we’d love to help. At Leading Edge, we specialise in Outcomes-Based Leadership Programs designed to elevate capability, strengthen culture, and support gender equity from the inside out. Explore our programs or book a call to learn how we can partner with you to drive meaningful, long-term change. Let’s build workplaces where leadership is human, clarity is kind, and everyone is empowered to thrive.