Not everything needs to be teamwork.

Some work is too large for one person. Some work needs diverse thinking. Some work benefits from a group making an existing idea better.

But some work is just a task.

This essay is about what happens when we turn everything into teamwork, why that makes people frustrated before the work even begins, and how a little clarity can help us stop asking people to mind-read their way through collaboration.

I learned early that if I didn’t know how to do something, I learned. Retail taught me that. Leadership taught me that. Life taught me that.

So imagine my surprise when I began encountering a different idea: This is just who I am.

What happens when the tools meant to help us understand ourselves become the very things that keep us from growing?

We ask leaders to build trust, create connection, get people talking, and somehow turn a room full of grown adults into a team.

But what if we’ve put too much of the responsibility in the wrong place?

This week, I’m wondering what happens when every person on the team starts acting like building the team is part of their job—even when they aren’t the leader.

It’s a bit of a hot take. And, for some reason, it starts with toast.