You can do anything, but not everything.
Hi friends! 👋
Every Friday, I'm answering one real question from a real leader. No theory or fluff. Just the issues you're actually dealing with.
If you have a question you'd like me to tackle, hit reply. I read every one.
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What's the hardest part of work for you right now?
This week’s question comes from Walt:
I've managed someone on my team for 4 years. I put them on a PIP once and they met it but then the old behaviors came back. In general, they work hard and get their work done, and they're an endearing person.
But they tend to overcomplicate everything. Every response starts with 10 years of history nobody needs. And the big issue is that they don't seem to listen to the direction they asked me for. I try to coach them first but I always end up directing instead. It's a love-hate situation now. Giving them advice feels like I’m talking into a walkie-talkie without pushing the transmit button.
Walt, that walkie-talkie line is going to stay with me. It's especially frustrating when you're trying to help someone and they aren't getting it.
4 years is a long time.
You asked how to get through to them. I'd answer a different question first:
How much of your time and energy does this situation deserve?
Early in my leadership career, I thought everyone on my team deserved the same commitment from me.
It didn't matter if they were coasting or really trying, or whether they had the skill to do the job. My job was to get them there.
So whoever was struggling got the most of me. More coaching, more patience, more time on my calendar.
But over the years I noticed something. The people who needed the most from me were rarely the ones who improved the most.
I would spend months trying to pull someone along, when I could’ve spent that same time on someone who was ready to learn and grow.
What changed that for me was a simple tool called the Skill-Will Matrix, from Max Landsberg's book The Tao of Coaching.
It asks 2 questions about each person on your team:
Skill: Can they do the job?
Will: Do they want to learn, work, and improve?
Image credit: Eric Partaker on LinkedIn
Once you know where someone fits based on those 2 questions, you have a much better idea of how much of your time is worth investing in them.
1. High skill, high will. Invest your time here.
These are your top performers, and they are also the easiest to overlook. They don't create problems, so they rarely get your attention. Make a point of giving it to them anyway.
Challenge them with harder work.
Give them a stretch assignment.
Ask them what they want to do next in their career.
Gallup's 2024 research found 42% of turnover was preventable. Of the people whose manager talked with them in the 3 months before they quit, fewer than 3 in 10 had a conversation about their future at the company.
People leave after a year of doing fine and feeling unnoticed. A few conversations can prevent that.
2. Low skill, high will. Coach them.
These people want to get better, they just can't do the job yet. This is where your coaching time pays off the most.
3. High skill, low will. Change the work itself.
These people are capable, but they have lost interest in what they're doing.
Ask them what part of their job they would redesign if you let them. Their answer will usually tell you what's missing.
Often what they need is a different kind of work, and that's a conversation you can have with them.
4. Low skill, low will. Stop spending your time here.
This is the one many leaders get wrong, Walt. Myself included.
It feels like giving up on someone. But wouldn't another member of your team make better use of that same hour of coaching?
Sometimes the better investment is helping them find a different role. That might mean helping them leave so they can be successful somewhere else.
Whatever you decide, give both of you a deadline. Protect your time.
Otherwise, you'll keep talking into that walkie-talkie and hearing silence on the other end.
Try this today
The next time they ask you for direction, give it to them in under 90 seconds. Then ask them to repeat the plan back to you in their own words, including a date for when they'll have it done.
If there’s a disconnect, keep asking "what else?" until they fill in the gaps themselves.
If they can't explain the plan back to you, that's a skill problem. Coach them differently.
If they explain it and then do it, the way you were giving direction before was the problem.
If they explain it and nothing changes, that's a will problem. That's a different conversation.
Hope this gives you some clarity. Good luck.
Until next time, keep being brilliant,
Justin
