Why the best teams feel lighter

Slack didn’t win because it added more features.

It won because it removed friction.

It made communication clearer. Faster. More human. It reduced the invisible drag that slows teams down.

Great managers do the same thing.

They don’t just push people harder. They design environments that feel easier to move in.

That’s why some teams feel energized while others feel exhausting — even when the workload is similar.

The difference isn’t effort.

It’s friction.

This week’s Boundless newsletter shows you three ways great managers make work feel lighter — and why this is becoming one of the most important leadership skills of the next decade.

Great managers replace ambiguity with clarity

Ambiguity is one of the biggest energy drains in organizations.

When people don’t know:

• who owns a decision
• what “good” looks like
• what actually matters

They hesitate. They second-guess. They overwork.

Clarity removes that.

One manager I worked with noticed her team kept revisiting the same decisions. She introduced simple decision ownership. Every meeting ended with “Who owns this?” and “By when?”

Within weeks, meetings were shorter, decisions stuck, and the team felt calmer and faster.

How to add clarity

• End meetings with named owners and deadlines
• Define what “good” looks like before work starts
• Repeat priorities often. People forget faster than you think

Reflection

• Where is ambiguity slowing my team down right now?
• What decision needs clearer ownership?

Great managers turn safety into speed

Psychological safety isn’t about being soft.

It’s about removing fear so work can move faster.

When people feel safe:

• they raise issues early
• they share half-formed ideas
• they admit mistakes before they become problems

That speed compounds.

As a mature leader, there came a time I realized information wasn't being shared until it was too late and problems were bubbling up, I started meeting discussions with, “What might go wrong?” instead of “What’s going well?”

Problems surfaced earlier. Fixes were smaller. Stress dropped.

How to build safety

• Normalize questions and early concerns
• Respond calmly to bad news
• Thank people who surface problems, even when it’s inconvenient

Reflection

• What do people hesitate to say around me?
• How do I react when someone brings me a problem?

Great managers remove friction instead of adding pressure

When things slow down, the instinct is to push harder.

But pressure increases anxiety, not momentum.

Great managers look for:

• unnecessary steps
• duplicated work
• unclear processes
• meetings that don’t move things forward

And they simplify.

It helped my team when i replaced three recurring meetings with a shared update doc. The team reclaimed hours every week and used the time to improve quality and plan ahead.

Performance went up. Stress went down.

How to remove friction

• Ask your team what feels harder than it should
• Remove one low-value process this month
• Replace status meetings with written updates when possible

Reflection

• What feels heavier than it should on my team?
• What’s one thing I could remove, not add?

2026 doesn’t need more hustle.

It needs better design.

The future belongs to leaders who create clarity, safety, and flow — not just output.

That’s what we’re building inside Boundless.

A group of managers choosing to take their role seriously. Choosing to grow. Choosing to build teams that actually work.

If you’re ready to be part of that, we’d love to have you.

Managers: Join Boundless and build your leadership with coaching, peers, and proven tools: ​https://members.boundlessnewleaders.com​​

Business owners and executives: Enroll your managers in Boundless: ​https://pages.boundlessnewleaders.com/information_request​​

Onward. David Schwall Boundless