"We have incredibly talented people on this team. So why does it take us three meetings to make decisions that should happen in one?"

That question came from Amanda, the VP of Product Development, as I opened a leadership workshop with her team. Around the conference table sat eight directors and senior managers, all high performers, all technically excellent, all struggling with the same invisible barrier.

"What's the pattern you're seeing?" I asked the group.

"Analysis paralysis," said one director.

"Everything gets researched to death," added another.

"We keep seeking more data, more opinions, more validation instead of just making the call," Amanda concluded.

Sound familiar?

After facilitating workshops with hundreds of leadership teams, I've noticed something fascinating: The most decisive teams all ask themselves the same question, but they never ask it about the business strategy. They ask it about themselves.

This team had fallen into what I call the "collective confidence trap", waiting to feel certain before taking action. But here's what I've learned: high-performing teams don't have more confidence than struggling ones. They have more collective self-trust.

I asked each person around the table: "Describe what confidence looks like to you as a leader."

I told them about a leadership team I'd worked with the previous year at a fast-growing tech company. Like Amanda's team, they were analytically brilliant but operationally stuck. Every decision required multiple stakeholder meetings, endless documentation, and approval from layers of management.

Their breakthrough came when their CEO, David, asked his team one simple question during a particularly frustrating product launch meeting: "What would we do if we completely trusted ourselves and each other?"

The room went quiet. Then their Head of Engineering said, "We'd launch the beta version next week instead of spending another month perfecting features that customers might not even want."

Their Director of Marketing added, "We'd stop asking for permission to run campaigns and start asking for forgiveness when we need to pivot."

"What's preventing us from doing that?" David asked.

The answers were telling:

David asked again: "What would we do if we completely trusted ourselves and each other?"

That question transformed their entire team dynamic. Not because it provided instant confidence, but because it shifted their focus from external validation to collective internal wisdom.

Back in Amanda's conference room, I posed the same question to her team: "What would you do if you completely trusted yourselves and each other?"

The responses were immediate and telling:

"We'd make the call on the pricing strategy instead of forming another committee," said their Finance Director.

"We'd launch the customer pilot program next month instead of waiting for perfect market conditions," added the Product Manager.

"We'd restructure our development sprints around customer feedback instead of internal preferences," said their Tech Lead.

"We'd stop checking with Legal on every minor policy decision and trust our judgment on the 90% that's straightforward," concluded their Operations Director.

Here's what I've discovered after working with hundreds of leadership teams: Activated teams don't have more confidence than struggling teams. They have more collective self-trust.

Team self-trust is the foundation that everything else builds on:

The teams that accelerate fastest aren't the ones who feel most confident about every decision. They're the ones who've learned to trust their collective wisdom even when individual certainty is low.

I want you to try the same exercise I facilitated with Amanda's team. Gather your leadership team (or even just think through this individually if you're assessing your current team dynamic).

Ask yourselves: "What would we do if we completely trusted ourselves and each other?"

Write down the answers. Be specific. Don't edit yourselves or worry about whether it's "realistic."

Next, for each answer, ask:

Team self-trust isn't built through trust falls or personality assessments. It's built through a simple but powerful process:

Every time your team trusts its collective wisdom and acts, you build evidence that you can handle whatever comes next. That evidence becomes the foundation for faster decisions, bolder moves, and breakthrough results.

What decision has your team been postponing because you're waiting to feel more certain? What opportunity have you been analyzing but not pursuing? What process have you been perfecting instead of implementing?

That's your next team activation point.

You don't need more data. You don't need perfect consensus. You need to trust your collective wisdom enough to move forward anyway.

Because here's the truth I've seen proven hundreds of times: Teams don't rise to the level of their confidence. They rise to the level of their collective self-trust.

Ready to build unshakeable team self-trust?

Bring this workshop to your team → I'll facilitate the same session that transformed Amanda's team and dozens of others.

P.S. Six months after our workshop, Amanda's team had reduced their product development cycle by 35% and increased successful launches by 60%. They stopped waiting for perfect information and started building team self-trust through action. What would your team do if you completely trusted yourselves and each other? Hit reply and tell me; I want to help you get there.

The Activated Leader Weekly Newsletter
Helping executives navigate transitions with courage, clarity, and strategy.

Forward to a colleague | Share your wins: reply to this email