Spotting the Signs Early

How do I spot the signs that someone is struggling at work?

The most reliable sign that someone is struggling at work is change. Changes in behaviour, such as withdrawing from colleagues, missing deadlines they'd normally hit, or becoming unusually irritable. Changes in appearance or energy. Changes in patterns, like arriving late, working excessively long hours, or going quiet in meetings where they used to speak up. No single sign proves anything, but a cluster of changes that persists for two weeks or more is worth a conversation.

For me, this is the most important shift in thinking I teach. Stop looking for symptoms. Start noticing change.

You are not a diagnostician, and you don't need to be. What you are is someone who knows your colleague. You know their normal. Which means you're better placed than any checklist to notice when their normal shifts. The colleague who always joins the team lunch and suddenly doesn't. The detail-oriented one whose work starts slipping. The chatty one who's gone quiet, or the quiet one who's become snappy.

And here's the crucial bit. Noticing means nothing without action. The kindest sentence in the English workplace might be: "I've noticed you don't quite seem yourself lately. How are you doing? How are you really?"

You won't always get an honest answer the first time. Ask twice. The second ask is where the truth lives.

Want to know what to do after you've notice? [Explore Mentality], which teaches the full identify, help and guide framework in one hour.