How to Lead a Team You Didn’t Choose—But Are Expected to Fix

Even the best leaders get handed broken systems.

Maybe your team was restructured. Maybe it’s a blend of legacy groups who’ve never worked well together. Maybe you’ve been promoted to lead a team that’s lost clarity, motivation, or trust.

Whatever the backstory, the pressure is the same: Fix it. Fast.

I want to normalize something that’s rarely said out loud: inheriting a struggling team is incredibly common — and deeply isolating. Especially when you’re already inside the company.

That was the case for Andrew, a senior leader in a global tech company, who came to me after being tapped to lead a newly combined department as a result of a major reorg.

On paper, the opportunity looked promising: more scope, more visibility, a vote of confidence from the C-suite.

In reality? It was a structural minefield.

The team’s priorities were fuzzy. Systems hadn’t been integrated. Morale was low. And scrutiny was high.

Andrew wanted to prove himself quickly — but he could feel the weight of the dysfunction.

The old ways of working weren’t just inefficient; they were misaligned with what the business needed next.

He knew instinctively: if he moved too fast, he’d lose the team, making changes before they trusted him to guide them. But if he moved too slow, he’d lose momentum — and the confidence of senior leadership.

So we mapped out a new approach.

Slow down to speed up

Andrew started by auditing the system.

He interviewed key team members. Reviewed handoffs, goals, and incentives.

What he found didn’t surprise him — but it gave him language to talk about it: decisions were bottlenecked, work was duplicated, and the team was being evaluated on outdated metrics that didn’t reflect current business priorities.

He shared those findings back with his team in a series of roundtables.

At one session, a senior team member — usually quiet — finally spoke up.

“I’ve been waiting to say this for a year,” she said. “We’ve been spinning our wheels, but we weren’t sure if anyone was paying attention. If you’re really going to fix this — I’m in. But please don’t disappear.”

It was a turning point. Not just for trust, but for momentum.

Andrew realized that making change stick would require more than just solving downstream problems.

He knew he had to manage sideways and upward, building support with his peers and executive sponsors to remove roadblocks.

But he learned he also had to pace himself.

These kinds of transformations don’t happen overnight.

Strategy is nothing without stamina

We don’t talk enough about the emotional cost of leading through messy change.

In the early weeks, Andrew felt the squeeze: from the team below, leaders above, and partners across the org who still had outdated assumptions about what his group did.

It would have been easy to internalize the pressure. To grind harder. To take on more. To try to shield the team from it all.

He’d have run himself into the ground — and it wouldn’t have made a difference to the team.

Instead, he got clear: what did he actually control? Where could he make a visible change quickly? And where would he need to lay groundwork first?

He scheduled regular check-ins with a trusted peer.

He blocked time for reflection — just 30 minutes a week — to ask: What’s working? What’s unclear? What do I need?

He also celebrated his smallest wins: simplifying a complex handoff, clarifying a sticky decision, and getting a quick training on the calendar.

Each one was a proof point. Each one built confidence.

You didn’t break it—but you’re responsible for the reset

If you’ve inherited a team that feels misaligned or stuck, take heart: You’re not failing.

You’re leading in a system that needs repair.

And you don’t have to do it alone.

Here are three starting moves to shift momentum:

  1.  Audit the system. Before judging performance, ask: Are roles clear? Are goals aligned? Does the team have the tools, autonomy, and trust to execute?
  2.  Create a safe forum for candor. Teams often know what’s broken — they’ve just stopped saying it. Use a neutral facilitator or Start/Stop/Continue framework to surface real insights.
  3.  Pace yourself. Transformation is a marathon, so focus on stamina, not just strategy. You’ll need both to rebuild trust and deliver results.

Andrew didn’t overhaul the team in a month. But he built a new foundation: one rooted in clarity, trust, and resilience. That’s what set him — and the team — up to win.

If you’re leading through transition, I can help.

I offer coaching, team reset sessions, and offsite facilitation for leaders navigating inherited or misaligned teams.