Picking up the dog poo

We’ve all been there. There’s a metaphorical turd sat on the pavement of your team’s working week. It might be a task that no one’s claimed, a clunky bit of process that’s not ‘owned’ by anyone, or a moment where you can clearly see a teammate struggling. It’s just not on anything officially listed under your remit.

You’ve spotted it. You know it stinks. And in that moment, you have a choice.

You can step over it. Or you can pick it up.

And how does your team consistently choose to respond to those moments? That’s what defines your culture – more than your values posters ever could.

Picking up the dog poo isn’t just about being nice, it’s a signal. When it happens often and visibly, it tells you something vital: that your culture is working. That psychological safety exists. That empathy has become operational.

The bit no one puts on the slide deck

When people talk about high-performing teams, we often jump straight to the shiny stuff: strategy, innovation, purpose, big goals. But more often than not, the real difference lies in something much more mundane: who’s willing to quietly pick up the mess.

The great teams I’ve worked with, and the best moments within those teams, are usually defined by someone stepping up without being asked. Not for the glory, but because they saw the need.

That could be rewriting someone’s gnarly bit of code to stop it from breaking the next sprint. Or prepping slides late on a Sunday because you know your teammate’s been firefighting childcare all week. Or just replying to that email in the shared inbox that no one wants to claim.

In teams where people regularly ‘cross the line’ to support each other, projects are more resilient, onboarding is faster, and burnout risk is lower. That’s not just a nice-to-have. That’s operational effectiveness.

It’s not glamorous. It’s not the stuff of award entries. But this is the gritty glue that binds a team. It’s what trust looks like when it’s being lived.

So why do some people pick it up, and others walk on by?

Strong team foundations

It’s tempting to think this is about kindness or work ethic. But I think it’s more structural than that. Picking up the dog poo only becomes a habit when your team’s foundations are strong, and built around four key principles.

• Trust: the belief that stepping outside your lane won’t result in punishment or judgement.

• Empathy: the ability to recognise when someone else is overwhelmed, because you’ve been there too.

• Understanding: not necessarily doing their job, but caring enough to know what success looks like for them.

• Confidence in safety: people will be rewarded for taking time out of their ‘scheduled’ tasks to help a colleague and they will be defended to others if challenged.

And the kicker? These foundations don’t build themselves. You can’t download them from the Slack marketplace. They’re built in the quiet, cumulative moments: grabbing lunch together, admitting when you’re stuck, sharing articles that made you think.

They’re built when leaders show vulnerability, and when colleagues get curious.

Curiosity isn’t fluffy, it’s foundational

Let’s talk about curiosity for a second, because it often gets lumped into the ‘nice to have’ box, next to beanbags and office dogs. But actually, I’d argue that curiosity is the engine oil of strong teams. Without it, everything grinds.

Curiosity is what transforms a team of individuals into a collaborative unit. It lets you ask, “Why is this person working late every night?” or, “What’s really making that project drag?” instead of blaming or ignoring.

It helps us see the human behind the role. And that changes everything.

As we’ve seen time and again at William Joseph, the space to ask questions, without immediate pressure to solve, is often where the best work begins. Whether that’s through user research, service design or team retrospectives.

How do we make this part of the day-to-day?

None of this works if it relies on individual heroics. So, if we want to make ‘picking up the poo’ a team norm, rather than a one-off, we need to change the systems around the team. That means leaders have to go first, and we need to intentionally build it into how we work.

Practical ideas I’ve seen work

1. Make the invisible visible

What are the tasks no one’s doing? The ones that don’t appear in your Trello board or get shouted about in stand-ups? Create space to talk about them. Maybe even start a ‘what’s getting dropped’ doc. not as a blame list, but as an invitation to support.

2. Reward learning, not just delivery

If someone asks loads of questions in a meeting, give them credit. If someone takes time out of their day to understand a teammate’s process, recognise that. Curiosity often slows things down in the short term but leads to better outcomes later.

3. Leaders need to model it

If you’re in a position of influence and you’ve picked up something messy, or if you’ve missed something and needed help, say so. It sets the tone. People need to see that asking for or offering help isn’t weakness, it’s culture.

• Use it in one-to-ones: ask, “what ‘poo’ have we walked past this week?”

• Use it in retros: ask, “where did someone step in helpfully without being asked?”

• Use it in strategy planning: ask, “what parts of our system rely on this kind of unseen work?” and, “are we supporting it or just benefiting from it?”

4. Create low-stakes connection

Whether it’s a monthly breakfast, a shared Spotify playlist or just encouraging cameras off when people are knackered, build the kind of interactions that make people feel safe showing up as themselves.

5. Help people see the bigger picture

We all work harder for causes we believe in. Make sure your team understands not just what they’re doing but why it matters. Tools like ikigai, ‘manuals of me’ or just regular ‘what keeps you going?’ chats can connect individual motivations to collective purpose.

In conclusion

Change doesn’t happen because of Gantt charts or roadmaps alone. It happens when someone rewrites the documentation, tests a prototype out of hours, or explains a new workflow again and again because it’s not landed yet. This isn’t about heroism. It’s about culture doing the heavy lifting for your change agenda.

You don’t need a shiny new framework or change programme to make this work. You just need to consistently show that it’s safe to care. That it’s noticed when people step up. That trust, empathy and curiosity are just as valued as speed, outputs and KPIs.

Because in the end, the highest performing teams aren’t the ones with the slickest stand-ups or the fanciest slides.

They’re the ones who, when the dog poo appears, don’t look away.

They get stuck in. Together.