When someone struggles in their role, our first instinct is to point to them. We question their competence. Their effort. Their fit.
But we’re looking in the wrong direction.
Most performance issues aren’t about the person. They’re about the setup.
That newly promoted manager fumbling through their first team meeting? You gave them a title but no training. The sales rep has been missing targets for three months running? They inherited a broken territory with no transition plan. Is the project leader drowning in competing priorities? You never clarified what success looks like.
We promote people into roles they’ve never done and wonder why they struggle. We create dysfunctional team dynamics, then blame individuals when collaboration fails. We provide unclear expectations, then act surprised when results disappoint.
Before questioning someone’s ability, ask your own system. Rate it honestly on a scale of one to ten. How well have you set this person up to win?
If your answer isn’t a ten, you know where the real work begins.
This isn’t about lowering standards or making excuses. It’s about being honest about cause and effect. Great leaders don’t just expect performance—they architect it.
When you create the conditions for success, most people rise to meet them. When you don’t, even your best people will struggle.
The question isn’t whether they can do the job. The question is whether you’ve given them what they need to do it well.
