The Illusion of “Fine”

Most organisations don’t feel broken when things start to go wrong.

They feel fine.

Work is getting done. Revenue is coming in. People are busy. Problems are handled as they arise. From the outside and often from the inside there is no obvious reason to pause.

“Fine” becomes the default assessment.

But “fine” is not the same as stable.

In many organisations, fine is held together by effort rather than structure. Decisions require more thought than they used to. Certain people carry disproportionate and unsustainable responsibility and workloads. Informal workarounds quietly replace formal processes. The system functions but only because individuals are compensating.

This is the illusion.

Nothing is visibly broken, so the strain is normalised. Delays are attributed to growth. Tension is attributed to busyness. Fatigue is attributed to commitment. Because outcomes are still being delivered, the underlying load remains largely unexamined.

The difficulty with “fine” is that it rarely feels urgent.

There’s no single moment that demands attention. No clear failure to respond to. Instead, there’s a gradual tightening and a sense that everything requires more energy than it should.

By the time “fine” becomes untenable, optionality has already narrowed. Decisions are rushed. Changes are reactive. What could have been designed calmly now has to be repaired under pressure.

Early strain doesn’t announce itself as a problem. It presents as tolerance.

The work at this stage is not about fixing what’s broken. It’s about noticing what is being carried and asking whether the organisation is designed to hold it.

“Fine” is often the last quiet moment before that question becomes unavoidable.