Sometimes change doesn’t start with a strategic meeting or a new workflow. Sometimes it begins with a broken office chair. I had long felt a quiet tension within our team. Everyone was polite – but distant. It felt like we were coexisting more than truly working together. Something was missing, and I couldn’t quite name it.
When I finally decided to clean out the office, it wasn’t a leadership initiative. It just needed to be done. Broken chairs, old monitor stands, worn-out conference room seats – things no one had used in over a year. It had all been piling up for months, getting in the way, a constant reminder of everything we hadn’t dealt with. The space felt stuck in 2017.
At some point, I thought: if not now, then when? I went online, found a junk removal service from Brooklyn, and scheduled a pickup for the weekend. The plan was simple: meet the crew, hand over the keys, and leave. But on Friday evening, the driver called to confirm the team would arrive at 10:00 AM on Saturday – and they’d need someone on-site. I stayed. A few of my team members came in to help as well.
All day Saturday, we carried out chairs, unscrewed table legs, sorted cables. And that day, I saw my team differently.
Our project manager – without being asked – coordinated the furniture removal so efficiently it looked like a warehouse operation. One of our support staff sorted tools into a labeled box to make sure nothing got lost. A developer quietly cleared out an entire shelving unit, tossed the trash, and neatly organized the rest.
And then there was someone else – someone I’d held onto out of loyalty – who stood around scrolling on his phone, disappearing every 15 minutes “for a call.”
What happened that day was a small-scale version of how our team functions in general. Except usually, it’s masked by task boards, Zoom calls, and corporate routines.
I realized then: cleaning up wasn’t just about furniture. It was about engagement. About informal hierarchies – who steps up, who steps aside. Who pays attention and takes initiative, and who just waits for the day to end.
On Monday, I called the junk removal company in Brooklyn again – to haul away the last of the leftovers. But this time, I wasn’t only looking at trash. I was thinking about who I really want on this team – and why I hadn’t seen it sooner.
By the end of the week, I had two conversations I’d been putting off. One person was moved to another department where their strengths finally became assets. With another, we parted ways. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel guilt – I felt relief.
Now, two months later, the office isn’t just cleaner. It’s calmer. The team is more focused. The awkward silence is gone. There’s honesty. And a real sense that we’re rowing in the same direction.
That ordinary Saturday cleanout turned out to be a moment of clarity. Sometimes, if you want to understand how your team really works, all you need to do is watch who holds the door while the old chairs are being taken out.
