I recently spoke with a colleague about a project we were working on. To be honest, it was difficult to find a rhythm with people on the project and the feedback we received was not stellar. I could live with it, but it was not what I wanted to hear.

As I shared the feedback with my teammate, she said: “I knew it. I just felt like there was something off and we have never had that feeling with a project before. I could feel it, and they always say that if you’re feeling it, they’re feeling it.”

At the time, I had a feeling too, but I wanted to be optimistic. When there’s an inkling of trouble, my first instinct is to try to fix it – usually by finding a way to deliver more than what is expected. As PR pros we provide a service – be it strategy or outreach or reports. I thought that if I could up the service, the feeling would go away on my side and theirs. Unfortunately, there’s not always enough time to fix the problem this way.

The lesson: You may not always have enough time for the workaround. Explore what you feel…and then hit it head on.

Problem noted. Solution realized.

Hopefully moving forward, the feelings you get from projects and teams are more energetic like those of James Brown or will.i.am.