When Performance Falls Short

Part I in our three-part series on the importance of grace. 

Our greatest challenge as executive coaches is helping leaders see their responsibility when performance falls short, whether by individuals or across the team.

Blame is easy. Ownership is harder.

Leadership requires holding two truths at the same time:

Even when results fall short, team members deserve grace, and leaders benefit by seeing this as a growth opportunity.

In this month’s three-part series, we will explore both perspectives. This first piece examines what exceptional leaders do when results fall short. The second will focus on extending grace to the team member. The third will address something we rarely discuss: extending grace to the leader under relentless pressure to deliver more with less.

People Come to Work Wanting to Do Well

Building on last month’s reflections on Taylor Swift’s leadership, one attribute stood out above all others: respect. Not performative respect—but respect grounded in responsibility. Respect for the people she chose. Respect for the systems she built. Respect for the standards she set.

Exceptional leaders begin with a simple truth: People come to work wanting to do well.

In hundreds of interviews with team members across industries, we have yet to hear anyone say, “I go to work to see how average I can be today.”

When performance slips, great leaders get curious. They resist the reflex to blame, and they examine their own role first.

Before concluding that a team member has failed, they ask harder questions:

• Do we have a systems problem that no one in this market could realistically satisfy?
• Did we hire for cultural fit, or only for competence?
• Were expectations and success clearly defined?
• Did onboarding and development align with the realities of the role?
• Has there been realistic goal setting, so the team member owns the goal and journey?

Underperformance Is Often a Systems Issue

When the conditions for success are absent, underperformance is rarely just an individual failure. More often, it signals a breakdown in clarity, alignment, development, or structure—the areas leaders control.

Ownership matters. When a team member succeeds, the success belongs to them. When failure persists, the leader must look in the mirror.

This reflects two essential Guiding Principles: caring and responsibility. One without the other is incomplete: Caring without ownership becomes sentiment, while responsibility without caring becomes pressure.

Rather than lower standards for the team, great leaders raise their own standards.

Leadership Reflection

Before addressing underperformance this week, ask yourself, not as an act of self-blame, but as an act of leadership maturity:

What responsibility do I have for this outcome?