The Team We Could Become — Session 1: The Gap

There’s a version of this team that doesn’t exist yet.

Not a guaranteed version. Not an inevitable one. A possible one — the team this group of people could become if everything that needs to happen actually happens.

Today I want to name the gap between where we are and where we could be. And I want us to sit in that gap honestly before we talk about how to close it.

Read this passage slowly.

Let that sit for a second before you move.

Immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. There is a ceiling on what we can conceive of for this team, and the power at work is described as being beyond that ceiling. Not just better than expected — beyond the capacity of the expectation itself.

Most teams operate below their potential. Not because of lack of talent or poor coaching — because of the gap between the team they are and the team they could be if they operated with full trust, full accountability, full investment from every person in the room.

What is the gap for this team? It’s specific. It’s not just “we could be better.” It’s the specific things that are currently limiting the ceiling. The trust that hasn’t fully developed. The accountability that isn’t yet consistent. The role player who is still operating at partial investment. The chemistry that is good but not great.

This series is about naming the gap honestly and then doing the specific work required to close it. Today’s work is the naming. Next week is the building. Week three is the living from it.

The honest naming of the specific gap is the foundation of the series. Don’t let the answer be vague.