Great at putting out fires, stuck on everyday decisions

Three meetings, Sept. 8 to Sept. 22. Two patterns to act on, three to watch, and one to protect.

Your first stepAgree who decides before the debate

Take one of the three repeat issues each week. Before anyone discusses it, agree who makes the call and by which meeting.

WhenStarting Sept. 29Time10 minutesWhoYou

Read the story on page 2, then the next step on each card in section 2. It takes about ten minutes.

Strainedact on this firstWatchkeep an eye on itSteadyfine for nowStrongprotect it

Who sees this report: you. Each team member sees their own page before anyone else.

The story of your team

Maya, your team is really good when something breaks. When the ticketing system went down, everyone had a job within four minutes, and customers were moving again within 25. That's worth protecting.

At the same time, a normal week looks different. The same three issues came up in every meeting, and each time the team agreed to look again. One long-time member carries a lot of the conversation, and newer people mostly stay quiet on hard questions.

Next steps usually don't belong to anyone, so a lot of them end up with you. It also seems like people are chasing different goals, and nobody has said which comes first. If nothing changes, more of that work will likely land on your desk.

If you think about it, a crisis gives your team what a normal week doesn't: everyone knows their job and the goal. So maybe the simple version is this: your team is great at putting out fires and stuck on everyday decisions. What would it take to bring that clarity into a regular week?

Where the team standsPage 2 in print

CAPABILITYDo our decisions get made and stick?Decision MakingStrained

CAPABILITYDo we change course when facts change?Adaptive CapacityStrong

CONNECTIONCan people disagree out loud?Open DissentWatch

CONNECTIONHow much energy goes to managing each other?TrustWatchLow confidence

CLARITYDoes everyone know who owns what?Role ClarityStrained

CLARITYDo we share the same why?Purpose AlignmentWatch

Section 1Page 3 in print

Your team overview

Six signals in three layers, drawn as an iceberg. Capability shows above the waterline in every meeting. Connection and Clarity sit below it, harder to see, and they tend to shape what shows on top.

Layer 3 · CapabilityAbove the waterline. You see it in every meeting.

Decision MakingStrained

Do our decisions get made and stick?

M1M2M3

Confidence: High

Adaptive CapacityStrong

Do we change course when facts change?

M1M2M3

Confidence: Medium

Waterline

Layer 2 · ConnectionJust below. Visible if you look for it.

Open DissentWatch

Can people disagree out loud?

M1M2M3

Confidence: High

TrustWatch

How much energy goes to managing each other?

M1M2M3

Confidence: Low

Layer 1 · ClarityDeep below. Hardest to see, and it shapes everything above.

Purpose AlignmentWatch

Do we share the same why?

M1M2M3

Confidence: Medium

Role ClarityStrained

Does everyone know who owns what?

M1M2M3

Confidence: High

Strainedact on this firstWatchkeep an eye on itSteadyfine for nowStrongprotect it

Hollow dots mean Low confidence: the recordings see little of that signal.

Section 2Pages 4 to 7 in print

A closer look

Cards run from most urgent to least. Each ends with one thing to try.

Six cards, in three rows by urgency. Click a signal to open its card below.

Act on this firstStrained

Keep an eye on itWatch

Protect and checkStrong, and Low confidence

Act on this firstStrained

Capability

Decision Making

Do our decisions get made and stick?

StrainedConfidence: High. Decisions can be counted directly.

Nearly two of every three decisions get put off another week.

8 of 13 items were put off to a later meeting.

Meeting by meeting

M1M2M3

What we saw

M1 to M3The escalation backlog, the Sales handoff, and the refund process came up in all three meetings. None was decided, and together they used 41 percent of meeting time.

M2, min 12During the ticketing outage, the team agreed on a plan to reroute tickets in 6 minutes.

What it means for you

The same three issues keep coming back, kind of like a family that talks about the leaky roof every Sunday and only calls a roofer once the ceiling stains. Pick one, say who makes the call and by which meeting, and let the team see it close.

Your next stepAgree who decides before the debate

Take one of the three issues each week. Before anyone discusses it, agree who makes the final call and by which meeting.

WhenStarting Sept. 29Time10 minutes per issueWhoYou

You'll know it worked: all three issues are settled, or dropped on purpose, by Oct. 13.

Section 3Page 8 in print

What to watch in your next three meetings

Mark a box after each meeting. Checks 1 to 3 test the story. Check 4 covers what the recordings miss.

What to watchIf you seeYour tally

01Does a repeat issue get settled?

Decision Making

When one of the three issues comes up.

Another lookName who decides before discussion starts.

Decided or droppedThe step is working. Move to the next issue.

M4SEPT. 29

M5OCT. 6

M6OCT. 13

02Who speaks first on a hard item?

Open Dissent

On any issue that has come up before.

The senior voiceHave everyone write first, then hear the newest members.

Others, with disagreementThe room is opening up.

M4SEPT. 29

M5OCT. 6

M6OCT. 13

03Who owns the next step?

Role Clarity

At the end of the meeting.

Most have an ownerOwnership is taking hold.

Three or more land on youHand one back before people leave.

M4SEPT. 29

M5OCT. 6

M6OCT. 13

04Where do concerns reach you?

Trust

Between meetings.

Mostly to youTrust is likely better than the room suggests.

Mostly through a colleagueTalk with them about which calls are yours.

M4SEPT. 29

M5OCT. 6

M6OCT. 13

Section 4Pages 9 to 14 in print

Development conversations

Each page starts a one-to-one conversation. LeadUp writes one for each person it analyzed in at least two of three meetings. Pages come with the Team Performance Program.

MemberRoleM1Sept. 8M2Sept. 15M3Sept. 22PresentPage

Maya Rivera YOUTeam lead

3 of 3Page 10

Frank DelgadoSenior specialist

3 of 3Page 11

Aisha BelloOnboarding lead

3 of 3Page 12

Ben OkaforReporting analyst

3 of 3Page 13

Lucía MárquezTraining coordinator

2 of 3Page 14

Threshold: 2 of 3 meetings

Tom NguyenBilling specialist

1 of 3Not yet

Grace KimSupport specialist

1 of 3Joined Sept. 16

Their page first

Each person sees their page before anyone else, and writes their own view on it.

Development only

Never used for ratings, assignments, or promotion decisions.

A first read

Three meetings show one room. Agree on the next step together.

One page per person. Click a name to open that page below. Each person sees their own page before anyone else.

Your pageStart with yourself

Your teamFour pages

Maya RiveraYOU

Team lead · Present in 3 of 3 meetings

Helps withRole Clarity

What we saw

StrengthLeads calmly in a crisis

When things go wrong, people look to you, and you give them a job fast. During the ticketing outage, five people had a role within four minutes.

Something to exploreLetting go of tasks

When a task has no clear owner, it tends to land with you. You took on 5 of 18, more than anyone, and 3 of those 5 hadn't moved a week later.

A page for each person, ready for a one-to-one

The $199 report shows who qualifies for a page. In the program, each of them gets one: a strength, something to explore, and the training that fits.

A development page for each team member
Other ways to read each pattern, so the conversation stays fair
One recommended course, tied to observed behavior

Schedule an intro call$7,500 · Launches November 2026

Section 5Team Performance Program

Individual development plans

In the program, each development conversation becomes a three-month plan. LeadUp reads the team again every month, so each person can see their own progress.

Maya Rivera · PreviewFrank DelgadoAisha BelloBen OkaforLucía Márquez

Maya Rivera

Team lead · Plan for Sept. 29 to Dec. 22, 2026

FocusLetting go of tasksHelps with Role Clarity

Where you start5 of 18

tasks you took on in these three meetings, more than anyone.

Where the team starts7 of 18

tasks left the room with an owner and a date.

Goal by Dec. 222 or fewer

items per meeting for you, and 8 of 10 tasks with an owner and a date.

Month 1 · OctoberBefore you take an item, name who else could own it. First coaching session on what makes handing off hard.

Month 2 · NovemberHand one recurring task to a team member. Mid-program reading of the team and your own page.

Month 3 · DecemberThe team runs the end-of-meeting read-back without you. Final reading, before and after.

CoachingThree one-to-one sessions with a LeadUp coach.

FeedbackYour own reading after every meeting.

Your managerA one-page summary for your development conversation.

Unlocked with the Team Performance Program

A plan for every person, and proof that it worked

The $199 report shows where the team stands today. The Team Performance Program turns it into change you can measure.

One team of up to 7, for three months
A development plan for each team member
Coaching, and continuous feedback after every meeting
Before-and-after data on the team

Schedule an intro call$7,500 · Launches November 2026

Section 6Page 16 in print

About this report

What three recorded meetings can show, how the report was made, and the research behind each signal.

01

Meetings sample talk. Trust and follow-through happen mostly between meetings.

02

Silence is ambiguous. Few objections can mean agreement or held-back doubt.

03

Two of seven members attended fewer than two meetings. Their views are underrepresented.

04

The story is a working hypothesis. LeadUp is testing it against outcome data.

How this report was built

Meetings: 3 weekly team meetings, Sept. 8 to Sept. 22, 2026, 2.9 hours
Members: 7, of whom 5 attended at least two meetings
Speaker identity: Resolved across all three meetings
Who receives it: The team lead. Each member sees their own page first.
How to correct it: Tell the team lead or LeadUp. The next report records the correction.
Next read: After three more meetings

What confidence means

High: Act now. The recordings show the signal often, and the meetings agree.
Medium: Check it against what you see. The evidence is thinner or shifts.
Low: Hold off and use the check in section 3. Most of the signal happens outside meetings.

Research behind the signals

Decision Making. Disagreement about the work itself shows no measurable cost to team performance (correlation -.01). Friction about people and process does (-.16 and -.15).
Adaptive Capacity. Teams that debrief their own work outperform teams that do not by roughly 20 to 25 percent (46 samples).
Open Dissent. Across 136 samples, teams where speaking up feels safe perform better (correlation .29). Uneven speaking turns track weaker problem-solving (-.41).
Trust. Friction about process tracks lower trust more than any other kind of conflict (correlation -.59 with trust).
Purpose Alignment. Across 739 groups, teams with specific, hard goals outperformed teams with vague ones by a large margin (d = 0.80).
Role Clarity. Across 22,258 employees, unclear roles and responsibilities were linked to lower performance (correlation -.24).
Development conversations. Feedback used only for development has produced about three times the improvement of feedback tied to appraisal.

Readings describe the team's current condition and its trend across these three meetings. Where the story looks ahead, it describes where teams with this pattern tend to drift, with no dates and no forecasts.

Team Tells™ is a framework of LeadUp AI, Inc.Sample report. The team, names, numbers, and events are fictional.