Team performance rarely drops overnight. It unravels like a jumper, thread by thread. One small snag becomes a hole, and before you know it, the fabric of performance is in tatters. The signs of declining performance aren’t dramatic, but they are costly – in lost trust, wasted energy and, ultimately, in people walking away.
Team interventions are often commissioned when things are already broken. Resetting a team when it has gone off track can be an uphill battle:
- Conflict is rife
- Goals and deadlines are being missed
- Engagement and morale are low
- The human cost is taking its toll – both on the managers and the team members
There’s an often-overlooked opportunity for L&D to play a more powerful role in prevention by supporting managers to act on subtle warning signs. If we can catch the loose threads early, we can help stop the whole jumper unravelling.
In this article, we’ll explore:
- The red flags of a team in decline
- The costs of missing them
- How L&D can act as an early warning system to prevent erosion before it takes hold
The warning signs of team erosion
There’s a saying in the project management world that projects fail one day at a time. The same is true of team performance.
If we don’t notice the early warning signs, it’s not because they’re not there, it’s because we’re not paying close enough attention.
Here are six signals to watch for:
1. Missed meetings become the norm
A regular cadence of meetings creates vital guide rails for communication, alignment, and problem-solving. A missed team meeting here and there may not seem important, but when it becomes a pattern the team loses connection. In the worst cases, team meetings are abandoned as they are just too awkward and painful to hold.
2. Silence replaces candour
High-performing teams thrive on openness and healthy debate. When psychological safety slips, people replace candour with silence. On the surface this might look like harmony, but in reality it is ‘artificial harmony’. It means that team members are seeking to keep the peace while the real issues are festering out of sight..
3. The blame game begins
Strong teams take collective accountability. When deadlines are missed and mistakes occur they problem solve together. In underperforming teams, individuals are on the defensive and resort to blame, which erodes trust quickly.
4. Conflict under the surface
Differences of opinion in teams are healthy. They mean people care and bring valuable perspectives to the table.
But when disagreements aren’t worked through to a constructive conclusion, they don’t disappear, they go underground. In declining teams, this might cause cliques to form or quiet disengagement.
5. Energy is low
High morale is a clear sign of team health. A team with high morale is more likely to perform better and overcome obstacles.
If team members seem disengaged, unenthusiastic or uninterested in their work, it’s a sign to watch out for. Attrition is often the lag indicator, but long before people leave, they have checked out emotionally.
6. Innovation stalls
Eroding teams may find themselves stuck in a rut, repeating the same processes and approaches without considering new ideas. This is a warning sign that curiosity and creativity have gone missing.
The cost of missing the warning signs
If these signals are missed, then the threads will continue to unravel. Psychological safety will deteriorate, making it harder for people to speak up. Conflicts will escalate, and the team will stop functioning as a cohesive unit. By the time external support is called in, the problems are often deeply rooted and much harder to shift.
Research by Sigal Barsade reminds us that emotions ripple through teams. When frustration builds, it spreads quickly, magnifying the impact of any unresolved issues. Left unaddressed, this contagion can spread throughout an organisation, making recovery even harder.
How L&D can act as an early warning system
Learning professionals are uniquely positioned to notice what managers sometimes miss and to translate those observations into action.
Here are three ways L&D can play that ‘early warning radar’ role:
1. Noticing the signals others overlook
Training rooms are data-rich environments. In workshops, we see who speaks, who stays silent, who rolls their eyes, who dominates. These behaviours are often mirrors of team dynamics.
By capturing and surfacing these signals constructively, L&D can highlight issues before they escalate.
2. Interpreting patterns, not just events
Managers may spot a single incident, but we have the advantage of perspective across cohorts, sessions, and teams. That pattern recognition allows us to say: “This isn’t just a one-off, here’s a trend worth paying attention to.”
3. Translating insights into awareness
Noticing signals isn’t enough. We can help managers understand what they mean. From simple frameworks to reflective questions, we can sharpen their ability to detect and respond to early signs themselves.
Practical strategies to prevent decline
Spotting the signals is only part of the picture. L&D can also provide managers with practical tools to intervene early and keep their teams on track:
Keep communication alive
- Introduce quick ‘pulse checks’ or health diagnostics
- Encourage purposeful check-ins
- Help managers design productive meetings that align team members
Protect the culture
- Facilitate reset workshops to revisit norms]
- Provide exercises that build psychological safety
- Frame accountability as shared ownership rather than blame
Fuel the energy
- Encourage recognition rituals that celebrate small wins
- Connect individual contributions to wider impact
- Embed simple innovation prompts that keep curiosity alive
These don’t need to be large-scale interventions. Often, short, regular practices have the most sustaining impact.
Spot the snag before the unravelling
Too often, L&D is seen as the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, arriving when teams are already broken.
But our greatest impact lies earlier. L&D can act as a true guardian, not just a fixer.
Loose threads don’t stay small. The only question is whether we catch them early or wait until the whole jumper unravels. What warning signs are you noticing in the teams you support? How can you help managers see them too?
