People or the System

A CEO called us recently with a familiar frustration. "Our sales team is underperforming. We need new leadership. Can you help us find a new commercial director?"

We asked a few questions before answering. Within twenty minutes, it was clear the sales team was not the problem. The problem was that the sales team had been set up to fail by a structure, a set of incentives and a process that no individual leader could have overcome.

This is one of the most expensive and common mistakes in business. Leaders see a performance issue and immediately reach for a people solution when the real issue is the system.

Would a capable replacement, with the same structure and incentives, produce a meaningfully different outcome?

How to Tell the Difference

It is probably a system issue if:

• The same role has had multiple capable people in it who all failed to deliver.
• The person is technically competent but consistently blocked by things outside their control.
• The role has unclear accountability, overlapping authority, or measures that do not reflect what the person controls.
• The team around the person is not set up to support the outcomes the role is meant to deliver.
• The incentive structure rewards behaviours that conflict with the stated goals.

It is probably a people issue if:

• Everyone else in a similar role is performing, but this person is not.
• The person lacks a specific, identifiable capability essential to the role and cannot or will not develop it.
• The person's behaviour is actively undermining others, regardless of structure.
• The role has clear accountability, authority and measures, and the person still is not delivering.