I clearly remember the day I received a panicked call from Carol, who had finally come to terms with the fact that her team was broken and she couldn’t fix it on her own.

When she called me, she had been head of IT for a large multinational organization for about 18 months, her first time in such a senior position. Her first few months on the job seemed to go well as she got to know the team, assessed gaps and functions, found some small wins and received positive feedback from the CEO.

Bit by bit, though, things began to bubble to the surface. She heard rumors that the executive team was unhappy with IT’s delivery, key business leaders were reporting it was increasingly difficult and cumbersome to work with her team, and fractures were emerging in the IT organization itself as silos began to build up and turf wars erupted. No matter what she tried, from shared objectives to monthly team dinners, personal agendas abounded, covert warfare was the norm and public humiliations became routine.

Finally, she reached out to her management team, but no help was forthcoming. To top it all off, the CEO who had been singing her praises just months earlier let it be known publicly that IT had serious delivery problems that needed to be addressed immediately. Carol was embarrassed and overwhelmed, and for the first time in 20 years, she didn’t know what more she could do. Reluctantly, she looked outside for help to fix her broken team. She came to me, deflated and depressed.

Over the next several months, we worked with Carol and her team to help them appreciate why they are a team and recognize the unique value only their team could provide to the organization. We also worked with them to foster more alignment and enhance their team dynamics. During our last session with the team, several members remarked that they could feel a palpable difference in the quality of their interactions, their problem solving and collaboration.

Not too long after, Carol phoned me again, out of the blue, but this time it was a very different sounding conversation. She wanted to let me know that her team had just won a national award for delivery excellence.

Asking for help inside (or outside) your own organization is a tough call for a leader. Many see it as tantamount to admitting defeat or inadequacy for the job. But getting teams aligned and functioning well is a specialized kind of skill, like pole vaulting.