A team that gets on but gets nothing done: the secretary and the five projects

This is a true story from a business owner. We have changed names and some details so no one can be identified.

Three years, five projects, none finished

Ann (not her real name) was the founder's secretary and worked closely with one of the department heads. The two got on very well. They clicked, and every meeting ended in laughter. Everyone said they were a perfect pair.

Yet over three years, none of the five key projects the two of them looked after was finished. Each started well, with meetings and plans, then slowed down little by little until it simply sat there. Nobody was lazy and nobody argued. Everyone just felt it would get done soon.

What changed

The founder decided to try a new pairing. Ann moved to work with another manager, and a new hire whose working rhythm supported the team took over the stalled projects. Before the move, the founder talked to Ann directly about why they wanted to try this, and made clear it was nobody's fault.

Within two months, three of the five stalled projects were finished, and Ann was working well with her new manager.

The lesson: getting on is not the same as work moving

We tend to judge a working pair by the mood. If they do not fight, they must be fine. It is better to look at two axes separately:

• Axis one: do they get on? Easy to talk to each other, trust each other.
• Axis two: does the work move? Decisions get made, work is handed on, things finish.

Put the two axes together and you get four kinds of pair: pairs that lift each other (get on and work moves), pairs that get on but get stuck, pairs that get work done but grind, and pairs that rub on both axes. The pair that gets on but gets stuck is the hardest to spot, because nobody complains.

If your team has a pair like this

1. Look for projects that have been open far longer than they should, and check who runs them together.
2. Look at your team pair by pair on both axes. See the sample team report.
3. Try the move in a trial team first. A trial team is a copy of the real team: move seats and compare it with the real one, while the real team stays the same and nobody is notified.
4. Before any real move, always talk to the people involved, explain why, and listen to them.

Treat the result as input for a decision, not a verdict on who is good or bad. In this story nobody was wrong; that pair just did not help the work move.

Try it free with a team of three at Team Fit.