Taking on a New Team: The Three Questions That Matter

When you inherit a team, it can be hard to know where to start. Years ago, I heard Baroness Sue Campbell MBE share a simple approach that I’ve used ever since. She asks just three questions:

• What do you do?

• What could you do?

• What stops you?

They open the door to conversations about current roles, hidden potential, and barriers that need to be removed.

She described how these questions transformed her relationship with one team member who appeared disengaged. That person revealed a time-saving system idea—still used nationally today.

Sometimes the simplest questions create the biggest breakthroughs.

👉 How do you get to know an inherited team quickly and well?