The Leadership Practice Most Teams Skip During Growth Seasons
Experiencing growth is exactly why you need to take a step back — to observe and question everything. Yourself. Your team. Your strategy.
Not as a naysayer, and not with doubt. But with hope and caution. Hope for what could be, and caution for what could potentially derail you.
This is the activity of Wonder — and it’s the starting point for every meaningful project. The new product, the new initiative, the new ministry season, even a family holiday. Somewhere, someone saw the need or the opportunity for change. That’s Wonder at work.
Most leaders associate growth with momentum, and momentum with moving faster. But the teams with the highest long-term leadership effectiveness are the ones who know when to pause — especially when things are going well.
Here are four reasons you must be intentional about Wonder, particularly in growth seasons.
1. You’re a Different Leader Than You Were Six Months Ago
Experiencing growth means you’re a different leader, with a different team, inside a different organization — in the present tense — than you were five months or five years ago.
The things that worked yesterday may not be working as well today, even if you’re still feeling the momentum of them. It’s completely natural — and necessary — to question your existing methods, direction, values, and vision. Sometimes to see if they’ve evolved with you. Other times to make sure you’re still going in the direction you intended.
Has it evolved? Should it have evolved?
If growth has occurred, change has also taken place. How do you feel about that change? Happy? Unsure? Maybe something shifted that you didn’t intend. Or maybe something hasn’t evolved in one area to match the demands of another.
This is where intentional Wonder protects your team dynamics and your strategic direction from quietly drifting apart.
2. Your Context Has Changed — Has Your Strategy?
As you walk any journey, regardless of direction, you’re always in a different space — with a different perspective, more experience, and more data than you previously had.
Because you’ve experienced growth, it warrants a deliberate pause. A time to step back, observe, and learn before doing anything else. Some questions worth sitting with:
- What’s working?
- What’s not working?
- How are we feeling?
- What might we be sensing?
- What are people seeing on the horizon?
- What are you noticing but have never articulated — or are afraid to ask?
- What are you noticing that you still can’t quite put a finger on yet?
These aren’t signs of weak leadership. They’re signs of a leader who understands that team productivity and organizational health require honest observation, not just forward motion.
3. Something Will Hit You in the Face
When you’re moving fast enough, you’ll eventually get hit in the face by a bug — especially on a bike. Whether your mouth is open or you’ve got sunglasses on to minimize the nuisance is another thing.
Being intentional about Wonder doesn’t guarantee no surprises. But it will minimize them and make you more prepared for them.
Without it, you’re completely exposed to knee-jerk reactions instead of having a chance at intentional responses. And for leaders responsible for team dynamics and organizational effectiveness, reactive decisions rarely land well.
4. Wonder Keeps the Flywheel of Growth Going
There’s something genuinely hopeful about Wonder. It’s part dreaming, part observing — and both give you a 30,000-foot perspective on life and work.
Spending intentional time in Wonder can ground a person or team in what’s important, what’s possible, and what’s worth protecting. It sustains the kind of leadership clarity that keeps teams aligned across seasons of change.
We can’t stay there endlessly — nothing will ever get done if we did. But it’s important we start there. Skipping Wonder doesn’t make you more productive. It makes you faster in a direction you haven’t fully examined.
A Practical Next Step
Before your next team meeting, project kickoff, or planning session — take ten minutes to Wonder first.
Ask your team: What are we not questioning right now? What have we been assuming is still true that might not be?
These questions, asked with hope and a little healthy caution, might be the most productive thing your team does this month.
Michael Dueck is a Certified Facilitator of Working Genius. This post draws on concepts from the Working Genius framework developed by Patrick Lencioni and The Table Group. Wonder is one of six types of working genius — and it’s the one most teams skip when they’re moving fast.
Bring this language to your entire team
I’m convinced that the Working Genius will help you to adjust and improve your team’s productivity and morale at work. If you lead a team, it’s worth seeing firsthand how this model can change the game for your team.
I can’t convince you BUT that’s what the test drive is for. I’ll give you a custom link to a WG Assessment and follow-up with a 45 min debrief of a team workshop. If it resonates, we’ll set it up for your entire team to experience The Working Genius.
