The R & R Newsletter: The unspoken reason teams fall apart
Why strong teams quietly start to drift apart.
Maritza S. Campo, Ph.D.
October 09, 2025
This week’s R&R is for anyone whose team is capable — but not clicking ✨
SEEN & NAMED
If you’ve been doing everything right and still feel like you’re holding something broken, you’re not alone.
Leaders everywhere are whispering the same thing:
“We’re all working… just not in the same direction”
“It feels like the team is operating in pieces — not as a whole.”
That’s what it feels like when a system begins to crack, not from incompetence, but from overload.
Everyone’s working hard, but no one feels fully seen.
It’s as if the music’s still playing, but the beat has splintered.
SHIFT POINT
You can't repair these fractures with another shared document or dashboard.
These aren’t efficiency problems; they’re coordination wounds. It’s what happens when capable people can’t find themselves in the motion.
They sound like this:
“My boss doesn’t see what I can really do.”
“I love the work we do here, but I’m not sure I can keep working like this.”
Cohesion doesn’t collapse all at once. It cracks where people stop being seen in the chaos.
TOOLS & PRACTICE
Teams don’t stay aligned because they share a plan; they stay aligned because they also share a sense of motion.
People need to know how the unit moves, not just what it’s moving toward.
Most team leaders NEVER name that picture.
While a vision sets direction, teams stay coherent when leaders name how the work should move — not just where it’s going.
Step 1: Make the Motion Visible
At your next team meeting, ask:
“If our team were moving as one body, what would it look like?”
Then imagine it, maybe even sketch it.
Are we moving like a crab walk (adaptive and side-sensing)?
Are we connected like a weave (interlaced and tensile)?
Are we bound in a human chain — every link essential, moving in sequence?
When people can see the motion — through metaphors like these or ones they create — they begin to recognize their role in the larger system.
That clarity invites alignment.
And belonging begins to return.
Use this script:
“Let’s name how we move as a team and not just what we do. This picture helps us see where we fit, how we rely on each other, and how to move forward as one.”
LEADERSHIP REFILL
🧭 This week, replace one project update with a conversation about timing and clarify motion. How do people know when it’s their turn to move?
You can’t nurture what you haven’t named.
And you can’t rebuild cohesion until people believe they’re part of the same movement and know their role in the sequence.
Cohesion isn’t an outcome; it’s an act of attention and purposeful motion.
YOUR IDENTITY RETURN
When the team moves together again, it won’t be because they worked harder.
It’ll be because they remembered how to move — together.
Because when you help your team see the choreography of their work, you give them the clarity to move with purpose, not just pace.
 | Leading alongside you, Maritza Salazar Campo, PhD  |
P.S. If you’re saying, “We’ll fix it later,” that later rarely comes. The silence between meetings only grows louder. Start now — one rhythm check this week can bring your team back into flow.
