You Can't Build on Ground You Haven't Surveyed

I recently joined a staff meeting led by someone who, on paper, was doing everything right. She set clear deadlines, made sure tasks were handed off smoothly, and started every meeting with a status update. Still, her team was struggling: details were missed, energy was low, and good people were quietly disengaging. When I asked her what she knew about each person's career goals, she hesitated. She knew everyone's workload, but not what they were working toward.

This isn't a personal failing. It's just what happens by default. When things get busy, the focus shifts to getting the work done, and there's little time left to understand the people doing it. But this shortcut doesn't really save time. The problems just show up later as extra work, disengagement, and people leaving.

This is where common ground matters, and it's important to be clear about what that means. Many people think of common ground as something you find in a negotiation — two sides agreeing on a small area. But for leaders, it's different. The common ground you need isn't about compromise. It's built by listening and noticing the common human experience behind each job title. It's less about settling disagreements and more about understanding your team.

Think about how a builder starts a project. Before any digging begins, someone checks the site — testing the soil, checking the water level, and finding the bedrock. If you skip this step, the building might still go up, but it won't be as stable. Common ground in leadership works the same way. It's not just a nice extra; it's the groundwork that shows what your team can handle before you start building together.

This kind of survey isn't just for new situations. Most leaders take over teams with people who joined recently and others who have been there for years. No matter how long someone has been on the team, it's important to find out where you share common ground. A team member with ten years' experience can be just as unfamiliar to a new leader as someone who started last week.

What skipping the survey costs

This isn't about slowing things down with long, emotional conversations. It's about knowing your team well enough to make decisions based on real understanding, not just guesses:

• Managers determine how engaged a team can be, not just the minimum level. Gallup says about 70% of the difference in team engagement comes from the manager. If you don't know what motivates your team, you're managing that 70% without a clear view.
• It's rare for managers to really know their team members' strengths, which makes knowing it a big advantage. Only about 37% of employees say their manager focuses on their strengths, but in those cases, engagement is about twice the average.
• Skill and experience don't guarantee a high-performing team. Google's Project Aristotle looked at 180 teams, expecting talent to be the key. Instead, the biggest factor was psychological safety — whether people felt safe to speak up, admit mistakes, or challenge ideas.

Finding common ground with your team isn't a distraction from getting work done. It's the foundation for everything you build together. If you take time to understand your team first, your work will hold up under pressure. If you skip this step, you'll spend more time later fixing problems.