When teams flounder, leaders often chalk it up to a people problem.

“They just can’t get along.” “They’re not trying hard enough.” “They’re not good at their jobs.”

Once the problem gets framed as interpersonal, the response tends to follow that diagnosis. Leaders mediate. They coach. They try to smooth tensions over. 

But in modern organizations, team friction is rarely just interpersonal. More often, it emerges when people are unclear on their purpose, their responsibilities, and how decisions actually get made.

What looks like conflict between people is often a symptom of structural ambiguity. It’s a design problem.

When interpersonal efforts fail to alleviate the friction, leaders often reach for the most visible structural lever they have: reorganization. They shuffle people across teams, rewrite job descriptions, and redraw reporting lines. 

The instinct is understandable. But it often makes things worse. So they reorg again. 

The common trap that leaders fall into is thinking that if they just figure out who’s in which function, who reports to whom, and who has what title, all their problems will be solved. Sorting names on paper will sort out the IRL chaos. 

But our world has progressed beyond the need for stable hierarchies. Work moves too fast. We’re constantly tackling unexpected challenges and ambiguous circumstances. 

The org chart is always going to lag behind the messy reality of everyday work. 

So, if a stable hierarchy doesn’t solve the problem when teams are struggling, what does? 

Everyday clarity. ✨

The reason reorgs get a bad rap is because they offer a false form of clarity. One that can feel cold and clinical because it’s based in bureaucracy, not in the day-to-day work. 

When work is interdisciplinary - when value comes from team synergy and not individual job descriptions - solutions aren’t found in the org chart. They’re found in sticky practices that get us the everyday clarity we need to make work suck less in this moment. 

In the modern organization, clarity can be kind.

Once you’re clear on how the work is actually getting done, you waste less energy on internal politics, backchanneling, and guesswork. All that excess noise falls away, and your team can focus on the work itself. 

This type of kind, caring, everyday clarity comes from defining four things:

1. Purpose
2. Near-term priorities
3. Roles
4. Decision Rights 

August developed what we call a Team Charter - a working document created for the team, by the team - that helps you achieve the right kind of clarity. It makes the implicit explicit in the pursuit of organizing around the work, not the org chart.

(If you’re looking for tips on creating your own Team Charter, scroll down to the Safe To Try section of this email for how to get started.)

When you make things clear, assumptions don't remain hidden. Confusion gets addressed. Daily friction over what gets done, by who, and by when fizzles out. The choppy waters calm, and your team can move forward with speed, confidence, and agility.

And, hopefully, a whole lot of care and kindness. 🫂

Karina Mangu-Ward

Partner, August Public