Instead of focusing on individual motivation, leaders should first examine the surrounding environment. The most powerful question isn't about fixing people, but about changing the system to make desired behaviors the easiest and most logical choice for any employee in that role.

Exceptional people in flawed systems will produce subpar results. Before focusing on individual performance, leaders must ensure the underlying systems are reliable and resilient. As shown by the Southwest Airlines software meltdown, blaming employees for systemic failures masks the root cause and prevents meaningful improvement.

When a team member makes a mistake, leaders should avoid blame. Instead, they should act like a farmer whose crops failed—investigating the environment, process, and support systems to understand the root cause, rather than just blaming the individual plant for not growing.

Many adult workplace behaviors—possessiveness, needing attention, irrational upsets—mirror those of toddlers. Understanding this parallel helps leaders manage teams more effectively by addressing underlying unmet needs rather than just reacting to the behavior.

When an employee seems defiant, it's rarely a deliberate act of insubordination. Instead, it's a signal that a request has caused an internal conflict or values mismatch. Leaders should treat this as a cue to investigate the root cause, not to punish the behavior.

View poor performance or difficult behavior as a manifestation of 'feelings overpowering skills,' rather than a conscious bad choice. This transforms a leader's role from a disciplinarian to a coach focused on teaching the missing skills to manage the situation.

A risk-averse employee isn't the root problem; they are a symptom. Their mindset has been shaped by a culture or process that punishes failure or embarrassment. To change the mindset, leaders must first fix the underlying systemic issues.

Before labeling a team as not resilient, leaders should first examine their own expectations. Often, what appears as a lack of resilience is a natural reaction to systemic issues like overwork, underpayment, and inadequate support, making it a leadership problem, not an employee one.

Instead of letting go of underperforming employees, adopt the philosophy that their failure is your failure first as a manager. This forces you to re-evaluate if you've provided the right goals, context, and support, which can often unlock their potential.