Navigating Change: How One Person Shifts a Team

Leaders often underestimate the ripple effect of adding or removing someone from the senior team. Well-worn paths of communication – healthy or not – get disrupted. What was once easy to call out suddenly gets buried under a false sense of “being nice.” Conversations either move underground or flare up unexpectedly. The chemistry isn’t necessarily bad…but it’s definitely off. 

Leadership dynamics are delicately balanced. One new face (or one empty chair) can shift the whole system. It’s not just about roles or responsibilities. It’s about trust, influence, unspoken alliances, and unvoiced tensions. Patrick Lencioni nailed it with the concept of vulnerability-based trust – the kind that lets people say the hard thing, admit mistakes, and ask for help. That kind of trust is fragile. And foundational. 

So, what’s a team to do when the ground shifts? 

Pause. Name the change. Talk about the impact – not just on the org chart, but on how you work together. Revisit your team norms. Reset expectations. Most importantly, rebuild trust on purpose, not by accident. 

It won’t happen automatically. But with the right conversations and a bit of guidance, it can happen faster than you think. 

The Leader’s Role: Tone-Setter, Guardrail, and Shock Absorber 

When a leadership team changes, the team leader (often the CEO or senior executive) becomes the linchpin of stability or the source of further turbulence. 

In Lencioni’s model of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, the base of the pyramid is trust. Specifically, the kind of trust that allows people to admit mistakes, ask for help, and be fully honest. That trust doesn’t magically transfer to a new member. It must be rebuilt, slowly and deliberately. 

The leader’s job is to: 

• Name the Shift: Avoid the “nothing to see here” approach. Leaders must acknowledge that the team dynamic will change and that it’s okay to talk about it. 
• Reinforce Norms: Remind the group of their ground rules and how they operate at their best. Describe what healthy conflict looks like, how decisions get made, and how feedback is shared. 
• Invite Vulnerability: Model it. Share their own uncertainty or reflections about the change. This is how psychological safety is re-established. 
• Watch the Quiet: Often, people who used to speak up pull back when dynamics change. The leader should invite their input and surface what’s going unsaid. 

When Someone New Joins: The Welcome or the Wall 

Adding a new leader often feels like introducing a foreign element into a tight-knit system. Even with great onboarding and clear role definitions, that person triggers unconscious recalibrations: 

• Former Alliances Shift: People might become territorial. Roles that were once fluid now feel threatened. 
• Power Dynamics Realign: Influence doesn’t always follow the org chart. A new member may disrupt unspoken hierarchies. 
• Psychological Safety Dips: Team members who used to challenge each other freely may now hold back, unsure of how the new person will react or how much the leader wants their dissent now. 

In this moment, the existing team members play a vital role. Do they choose curiosity over judgment? Do they make space at the table, literally and metaphorically? Or do they close ranks and hope the new person will figure it out on their own? 

Here, Lencioni’s concept of commitment and accountability also comes into play. Teams that have already built high levels of trust will more quickly integrate a new member, but only if everyone consciously recommits to the team, not just to their silo. 

When Someone Leaves: A Vacuum or an Opportunity 

Losing a team member, especially a strong or long tenured one, can feel like both a relief and a loss, depending on the circumstances. But in either case, the absence is not neutral. 

What happens next? 

• Unspoken Rules Break Down: Sometimes the departing member was the glue holding unacknowledged conflicts at bay. Their absence can cause simmering tensions to bubble up or long-awaited ideas to surface. 
• Roles and Responsibilities Get Blurry: Unless the leader quickly clarifies “who owns what now,” decision-making can stall or, worse, get hijacked by informal power brokers. 
• Group Identity Shifts: Every team has a vibe. Losing a member changes the team’s “emotional tone.” The leader should guide a conversation about what kind of team they want to be now. 

And again, the remaining team members’ behaviour matters. Will they step up to fill the gap? Will they grieve the departure or gloss over it? Will they support the leader or make subtle power plays for influence? 

Tips for Managing the Shift 

Whether someone’s coming or going, here’s how leaders and teams can make the transition smoother: 

1. Have the Conversation: Don’t pretend the team is unchanged. Discuss how the shift might affect dynamics and expectations. 
2. Revisit the Rules of Engagement: How do we communicate? How do we disagree? What do we expect from each other? Resetting the team’s verbal upfront contracts is crucial. 
3. Assess Trust and Safety: Lencioni-style team assessments or Patrick Lencioni’s “Team Health” exercises can surface what’s working and what’s not. 
4. Watch for Withdrawal: Psychological safety shows up when people speak freely. If that stops happening, address it quickly. 
5. Use Outside Facilitation: Sometimes, an objective facilitator can help a team reset faster, ensuring voices are heard and dynamics are managed constructively. 

Final Thought: Teams Are Living Organisms 

Leadership teams aren’t static – they’re living, breathing systems. Change one part and the whole system shifts. It’s not good or bad, it’s just real. Smart leaders know this and proactively manage the change rather than pretending nothing happened. 

Most teams wait too long to fix what’s not working. The ones who don’t? They’re the ones we work with. Let’s start the conversation.