Navigating Dysfunction

Can You Do Your Best Work Here?

Before you decide whether this environment is right for you, ask yourself an honest question: Can I do my best work here?

Not "Is this fair?" Not "Is this broken?" Not "Am I being treated well?" Those are emotional judgments. And emotions can easily shift.

Let’s start, instead, with one that is simpler and more useful: Given how I work best, given what I value, given what I'm capable of—can I actually deliver my best work in this environment?

There’s no real emotion to this one. It’s a concrete assessment with ramifications. Because if the answer is no, you need to know that. And you need to understand why you feel that way.

Just - don’t be hasty.

Growing Through Activation

You're constantly growing in your ability to add value and deliver your best work. Every time you clarify a responsibility, you develop judgment. Every time you exercise autonomy, you learn what works. Every time you progress through cycles of trying and learning, you get better at understanding what's actually required and what's just noise.

And others are seeing you with greater trust and influence. 

But as you grow, you're also constantly asking: Is my growth keeping pace with my expectations? And is the environment allowing me to continually do my best work?

Dysfunction

Everyone experiences dysfunction. Dysfunction is simply a name for things that get in the way of being effective. In our case, dysfunction is about the things that prevent you from delivering your best work. 

Micromanagement. Unclear expectations. Constant reprioritization. Lack of autonomy. These feel structural—like the environment is broken.

But as high performers advance to ‘the next level’ and better understand how performance works, they naturally take greater ownership of their relationships and the culture that enables - or disrupts - their ability to do their best work. One common action that’s often cited - high performers learn how to “say no” to things that don’t help them achieve their goals. That’s just one example. 

As they grow into that ‘next level’ of performance, dysfunction inevitably fades. 

Micromanagement may disappear because the leader no longer needs to check in constantly. Autonomy emerges because there’s clarity of authorities and constraints. The constant strategic pivots stop because there's agreement about what actually matters. Unclear expectations vanish. 

And here’s a glimpse at the next level: As your ability to add value grows, your ability to shape the environment to meet your needs also grows. 

Usually. Not always. And that’s what this post is about.

The Cycle of Assessment

Overcoming dysfunction works the same way as execution itself. To fix dysfunction, you take a reasonable step to address what you're experiencing. You evaluate what happens. You learn from it. You decide on a next step.

Maybe the first step to resolving a dysfunction - constantly changing set of expectations - is to have a 1:1 meeting to clarify your responsibility. Maybe a second step is a follow-up email documenting what you discussed. Maybe a third step is to stop in every few days and provide a verbal update on the (now clearly documented) responsibility.   

Each step is not only attempting to solve the problem, it’s also teaching you something about whether this environment can support your growth.

After each step, you assess: if I’m not yet where I can produce my best work, is there a reasonable next step that would move me toward doing that?

As long as you can identify reasonable next steps—approaches that might help you grow, that might change the dynamic, that might create clarity—you're in the territory of learning. And that, alone, is valuable. You're learning how to test whether this environment can support your development. 

When you reach a point where you simply can't identify a reasonable next step—when you've cycled through approaches and none of them move you closer to doing your best work—that's different, but equally valuable, information. That's when you need to decide whether this is the best place for you.

Dysfunction vs. Your Line in the Sand

Dysfunction is the mismatch between how you work best and what this environment allows. It's limiting. It's frustrating. It's often navigable, especially as you grow.

But everyone has a line. A place where dysfunction stops being "difficult to work within" and starts being "I can't be here."

That line is personal. It's not about being fair or reasonable. A 2am call from leadership might feel like evidence of your value to one person and intolerable to another. A high-pressure, politically charged environment might energize someone and deplete someone else. Ambiguity and constant change might excite you or exhaust you.

Your line is wherever you draw it. And you know when you've crossed it. Your body tells you. Your heart races when you think about going in. You dread Monday mornings. You look for reasons to call in sick. You start spending mental energy on escape instead of on your work.

That's not dysfunction anymore. That's your signal: this has crossed the line from "difficult to navigate" into "I can't be here."

The Honest Assessment

Once you've cycled through reasonable next steps, ask yourself:

“Can I see myself doing my best work here? If not today, can I identify reasonable next steps that might move me closer at a speed that I’m comfortable with?” 

If so, you're still in the growth phase. You're learning what's possible.

If you can't—if you've tried and cycled through approaches and the environment still prevents your best work, or if the dysfunction has crossed over your line—that's clarity. It's not failure. It's information. And clarity about what you need is the foundation for deciding what comes next.

These are the things to consider.

Only you can know what’s right for you.