If I’ve seen it once I’ve seen it a hundred times while leading at Chick-fil-A over the years. You’ll get a young professional a year or two out of college with a great resume and plenty of drive and talent. But then somewhere from their first day to a few months in, cracks begin to show in the foundation as the Yo-Pro starts to struggle. While these struggles manifest in different ways, the most common are lack of confidence, lack of ability to deal with failure, and just overall lack of ability to execute the job role up to the expected standard.

While this reality is common amongst young professionals, the exact same can be true for people of any age. Whether you are a Yo-Pro, you lead others who are young, or you simply want to increase your own effectiveness, there’s lots to be learned here!

Sources of Struggle

When someone is struggling, there could be numerous different explanations as to why. For the sake of this post, let’s assume for a moment that the person is motivated and that they are working hard to do a good job. Let’s also assume that they don’t have a bully boss demotivating them, or some kind of a debilitating issue like a nagging health problem that is weighing them down. With these caveats in mind, what are a few common reasons for underperformance?

1. Lack of Understanding. This is especially true of younger professionals, but it applies to us all. Listen to one of the most simple but true quotes that you will ever hear: “To understand is to know what to do” (Ludwig Wittgenstein). A person will take wrong action, or no action at all, when they do not understand something. For example, ask me to interview, select, and hire great people and I can do this in my sleep with no problem. I’ve even created a Talent Toolbox that gives other organizations the resources needed to be elite at attracting and retaining high performers! I am able to do all of this because I have a deep understanding of it. But ask me to create a plan for teaching a college course for a semester, and I will have zero clue how to even begin. I do not understand how to teach a college class, therefore I do not know what to do. This concept is so basic and yet so powerful. If you are struggling with underperformance in a specific area, it is likely that you do not understand it enough to be competent. The same goes for people who you lead when they are struggling.
2. Lack of Reps. While many have proposed the 10,000 hour rule, I heard it most clearly from Malcolm Gladwell a few years back. He says that 10,000 hours are required to become world class in anything. While this hour amount is not necessarily accurate, the idea is 100% true. No person can do something at a high level without adequate repetitions of it. Reps help you understand something as you do it, but they also create muscle memory and allow you to iron out any rough aspects of a process. After doing something enough times, it can be done with fluidity, confidence, and excellence. I not only am able to select and retain top talent because I understand it forwards and backwards, but also because I’ve spent hundreds or even thousands of hours actually doing this! I’ve spent zero hours creating a college course plan, so my lack of reps leaves me inept in this area. As author James Clear says, if you want something done, then do it. If you want it done WELL, then just REDO and REDO it! Adequate time and reps must be given to gain mastery in an area. 
3. Lack of coaching. This one ties in fairly closely with not understanding something. If you are executing reps of something but are doing it wrong, then no amount of repetitions will help. Receiving coaching and feedback from someone who is more of an expert than you will allow you to work SMART and to ensure that you are aiming your hard work in the correct direction. People sometimes come to me for help with hiring and growing their employees, and I am able to effectively give them guidance. But for the college course, after some preliminary Google research I would have to go to one of the professors that I know to learn how to best plan a course. For some reason, people often miss either one (or BOTH) of these when they are struggling with underperformance. Some are quick to seek out advice while never putting in the work to first learn on their own. Others sit alone in isolation taking way too long to learn something that an expert could teach them in a few short minutes. Being coached by someone who understands and already has the reps can speed things up significantly and ensure that energy is not wasted doing the wrong things.

Closing Queries

What’s an area that you, or someone you lead, is underperforming in? Which of these three root causes of underperformance would best explain the issue? How can you attack that area to turn the ship so that the underperformance in this area is transformed into WINNING?