Is the team you lead worth working in?

This question digs much deeper than "do your people like you?" More than "are they engaged." Instead, does it feel worthwhile to work in.

Answering this question may be harder than you think.

When morale dips, the remedy is predictable. Book a speaker. Launch a recognition scheme. Run an away day. Invite more ideas. Tick the boxes that "prove" you care. And morale may creep up a point or two on the next survey.

But they aren't sustainable changes because low morale isn't the problem. It's the signal. And most leaders respond to the signal by trying to mute it.

Making work worth being positive about is a different challenge entirely. It means making calls. Kill the project that's going nowhere. Tell people the truth about what actually matters. Raise the standard instead of lowering the expectation.

That's harder than booking a wellbeing workshop, but it's also the actual job of a leader.

Ghassan Karian framed this brilliantly: "The goal is not to make people feel more positive about work. It is to make work worth being positive about."

If you lead a team, that line is either a relief or a challenge. Relief, because it gives you something concrete to work on. A challenge, because it means looking honestly at what you've actually built.

So. Is the team you lead worth working in?

If the answer makes you uncomfortable, then it's time to look at how you lead.