I’ve heard some version of this in almost every leadership engagement I’ve been in:

“I just don’t think he has what it takes.”

“She used to be a rock star. I don’t know what happened.”

“We may need to make a change.”

And sometimes those assessments are right. Sometimes you do have a talent problem or a fit problem.

But in my experience, leaders reach that conclusion too fast. Before they’ve honestly examined whether the environment they’ve created is actually set up for the person to succeed.

First, why do people not perform well

Every role has a different job description and success metrics. So, when someone is failing, lots of different factors can be at work.

However, when you boil it down, there are only three reasons people don’t perform:

1. They don’t know what’s expected of them.
2. They don’t have the requisite skills or tools to do the job well.
3. They are choosing to not perform for some reason.

Notice: the top two reasons people fail fall at the feet of the Leader. You have control over the first two (and most common) reasons people don’t meet expectations.

The diagnostic most leaders skip

Think about a golfer who’s been playing lights-out all season. Then they show up to a new course they’ve never seen, with no yardage book, no caddie, in rental clubs, and shoot a 95.

You wouldn’t say they forgot how to golf.

But that’s essentially what we do when we change someone’s role, their manager, their team, or their goals — and then scratch our heads when their performance dips.

Before you decide you have a talent problem, check for an environment problem:

Do they know exactly what success looks like in this role? Not a vague aspiration — a clear, concrete definition of what ‘great’ means by when.

Do they have what they need to do the job? Resources, access, decision rights, air cover from above?

Is there something structural working against them? A cross-functional relationship that’s broken, a process that’s slowing them down, a goal that was set before three major things changed?

Have you told them how they’re actually doing? Not in annual review language — in honest, timely, specific feedback they can act on?

If you can’t answer yes to all four, the environment isn’t set up for success. And the person is probably working harder than you know just to tread water.

Clarity is the thing leaders underinvest in most

I’ve come to believe that clarity is the most underrated leadership tool there is.

Not inspiration. Not strategy. Clarity.

When people don’t know what’s expected of them — really know, not roughly know — they default to what made them successful before. Which may or may not be what the current role needs. They avoid decisions that feel ambiguous. They spend energy on visible work instead of high-leverage work. They optimize for not failing instead of trying to win.

And from the outside, it looks like they’re underperforming.

The fix is rarely a coaching plan. It’s a conversation. A real one, where you get specific about what the person should be spending their time on, what decisions they own, what outcomes you’re holding them to, why its important, and what you’ll do to help.

Most of the time, that conversation hasn’t happened. Not really.

When it is a talent or attitude issue

I want to be clear: sometimes it really is a talent issue. Some people are in roles they’re not suited for or have gaps that aren’t closable in the timeframe the business needs. And even the best of us some times take on the wrong attitude.

But even then — especially then — the leader’s job is to be honest about it, not to manage around it indefinitely and hope something changes. The kindest thing you can do for someone who’s in the wrong role is help them see it clearly and help them find a better fit.

What I’m pushing back on is the reflex. The tendency to go to ‘I may need to make a change’ before ‘I wonder what’s actually getting in this person’s way.’

Your best people want to succeed. Start by making sure you’ve built an environment where that’s actually possible.