When What Worked Before Isn’t Working, Try Seeking Clarity
There comes a moment for every leader when what worked before isn’t working anymore.
One of the most challenging leadership moments is this:
You know what to do.
You’ve seen situations like this before.
You’ve handled them successfully.
But this time, something is different.
And you can see it.
The team has changed.
The dynamics are different.
The stakes are higher.
What worked before isn’t going to work here.
And that’s the problem.
At that point, it’s easy to feel stuck.
You know enough to avoid the wrong approach.
But not enough to see the right one.
The situation has changed—and you don’t yet see how to move forward.
Key Takeaways
- What worked before can quietly become outdated
- Applying familiar solutions to new situations often creates friction
- When something isn’t working, it may be a sign the situation has changed
- Understanding the other person’s perspective can reveal what’s missing
- Clarity creates better options than pushing harder
A Situation That Looked Familiar—but Wasn’t
I worked with a senior leader responsible for several brands within a large consumer products company.
A few years earlier, he had found a way to improve communication across his team.
He used personality assessments to understand how each person preferred to communicate—and adjusted his approach accordingly.
It worked.
Conversations improved.
Alignment increased.
Progress became easier.
But over time, the team changed.
New people joined.
They didn’t have personality assessments.
And the system he had relied on stopped working.
Where It Started to Break Down
Then, a new brand CEO stepped in with a bold strategy.
However, the previous CEO had tried something similar the year prior—and it hadn’t worked.
That CEO had eventually been forced to leave.
He didn’t want to see the new CEO repeat the same mistake.
But he also didn’t want her to feel unsupported.
He wasn’t sure what to do.
He didn’t have a personality assessment on the new CEO.
The stakes were high, and he just wasn’t sure how to move foreward to protect her reputation and her sense of power.
So he reached out.
The Shift: Understanding Before Acting
When we talked it through, one thing stood out quickly:
The communication system that worked before wouldn’t work anymore—but he didn’t yet see what would.
Instead of trying to match personalities to a communication style, I suggested that he focus on understanding and empathy first.
- What was the CEO trying to accomplish?
- What was driving the strategy?
- What mattered most to her in making it work?
As we talked it through, something important shifted.
He realized that instead of personality tests, he could just use empathy. Naturally empathetic, he knew that would work.
“Maybe what was really working before was not the personality test itself, but just taking time to focus on the person. I think I tapped into my empathy that way.”
He knew that if he spent time understanding her strategy first and making her really feel heard, she would feel that he was on her side.
The Cost of Acting Before You Understand What’s Changed
When you try to solve something before you understand it fully:
- conversations create friction instead of alignment
- strong ideas fail to gain traction
- and leaders start to second guess themselves
Over time, this can feel like your message isn’t landing the way it should.
Not because you’re not communicating well—
but because you need to understand what’s actually happening before you try to communicate.
What To Do Instead of Trying to Rush Communication
When something isn’t working the way you expect:
- pause before pushing harder
- question whether the situation has changed
- look beyond the surface of the issue
- and take time to understand how others are seeing it
Sometimes what looks like resistance isn’t resistance at all.
It’s a sign that something important isn’t fully clear yet.
Final Shift
When what worked before stops working, it’s not a failure of effort.
It’s a signal that the situation has changed—and needs to be understood differently.
A Better Way to Move Forward
If you’ve experienced this—where your experience is strong, but the new situation isn’t what you expect—it’s often a sign that something isn’t fully visible yet.
That’s where clarity matters.
I’m hosting a small-group session:
Get Clear on What Matters: Why Things Aren’t Working—and How to Move Forward
It’s designed to help you:
- see one real situation more clearly
- identify what may be missing
- and decide what to do next
Keep Learning
- Why Things Aren’t Working at Work (And Why It’s Hard to See)
