Month: April 2026

As I sat there drawing up a FAQ document, I couldn’t help but wonder: what would 2019 me say if she could see me now? Back then I was working 9 to 5 as a Customer Care consultant but on the side I was doing Marketing for a small business, Fast forward a few years and it has been a crazy ride. From corporate to startup to freelance and back to corporate.

Back then I was working in small businesses where time and money were always tight. No budget meant no team of ten. You were the team of ten.

You wrote the copy, scheduled the campaigns, answered the emails, fixed the problem, and then figured out how to report on it afterwards.

It turns out that experience makes you wildly versatile. When you’ve had to touch almost every part of marketing, you start seeing the whole picture instead of just one piece of it.

You don’t just think outside the box.

Half the time you’re building the box.
And if there’s no time for that… you just get on with it without the box.

And that changes how you work forever.

Because once you’ve had to do it all, you stop waiting for ideal conditions.

You start working with what you have.

And you make it work anyway.

Being a team player is a wonderfully noble thing. It’s helpful. It builds relationships. It makes you that person everyone relies on in a crisis.

Until one day you realise… you’re not just being a team player anymore.

You’re quietly absorbing work that has nothing to do with your actual job description while smiling through WhatsApp messages like “happy to help”.

Somewhere along the way, “collaboration” turned into:
“Hey, you’re good with computers right? Can you just quickly fix this code thing?”

Quickly.

Right.

Because nothing says “quick” like being roped into debugging something you didn’t build, don’t own AND were never trained for.

It rarely starts dramatically.

It’s usually something small like:

• “Can you just take a look at this?”
• “You’re so good at figuring things out”
• “It’ll only take a minute”

And because you’re competent and helpful, you say yes.

Then suddenly you’re:

• Balancing your own workload
• Managing deadlines that were never yours
• Trying to decode systems you were not introduced to
• And somewhere in there… accidentally becoming unofficial IT support

Not your job. Not your department.

But somehow, here you are.

There’s a big difference between:

• “I can help you with this once”
  and
• “This is now also your responsibility”

And when that line disappears, your actual work doesn’t shrink.

It just… waits for you.

Patiently.

Judging you.

There’s nothing wrong with being helpful.

But there’s a difference between being a team player…

And becoming the unofficial solution to everything that breaks, glitches or confuses someone else.

One builds a career.

The other builds burnout with a smile.

And if you’ve ever found yourself coding something that was absolutely not in your job description while thinking “how did I get here?”…

Yeah.

You’re not alone.

Before asking why your team isn’t performing, ask whether they feel safe enough to perform.

Psychological safety isn’t about being “nice.”

It’s about creating an environment where people can:

• Ask questions without feeling incompetent
• Raise concerns without fear
• Clarify expectations without being labelled difficult
• Make mistakes without being shamed

When psychological safety is missing, you don’t always see dramatic conflict.

You see:

• Delayed questions
• Silent confusion
• Overworking to avoid criticism
• Talent shrinking instead of stretching

High performance doesn’t come from pressure alone.
It comes from clarity + consistency + trust.

If people are constantly bracing for feedback instead of growing from it, something in the system needs attention.

Leadership isn’t about having all the answers.
It’s about creating the conditions where others can do their best work.

And that starts with safety.