When Getting the Work Done Hides the Strain

I think we are too quick to call a team resilient when it keeps delivering.

Gallup's 2026 State of the World's Emotional Health report found that negative emotions remain elevated around the world. Positive experiences have not disappeared alongside them. People can feel stress and still enjoy parts of their day.

That isn't a study of work teams, but it made me think about how easily we misread the people around us. A team can hit its deadlines, laugh in meetings and still be carrying a load that isn't sustainable.

The question isn't only whether the work got done. It's what it took to get it done. Were problems solved or did the same people absorb them again? Was there time to recover or did everyone just move to the next urgent thing?

Sometimes continued performance reflects real capacity. Sometimes it means people are compensating for a system that hasn't changed. I'd want to know which one I'm looking at before calling it resilience.

Gallup report: https://www.gallup.com/analytics/349280/state-of-worlds-emotional-health.aspx