I once heard a leader say, “This developer is too slow.” No, the process was slow.
If someone on your team is struggling, it’s not a personal failing—it’s a system failure. Maybe they weren’t given the right training. Maybe work sits in review for weeks. Maybe the handoffs between teams are a mess.
Nigel Thurlow puts it perfectly:
“You never measure a person, ever. You only ever measure a process. You improve the system, never the people within it.”
People don’t fail in a vacuum. The system sets them up for success or failure. If you’re spending time trying to fix the person, you’re missing the real problem.
Want better performance? Fix the process.
Have you ever seen someone get blamed for a system failure?
If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.
NIT A/S
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Healthgrades
Graham & Brown
Genus Breeding Ltd
Qualco
Illumina
Xceptor - Process and Data Automation
Philips
Sage
Milliman
Lean SA
Deliotte
Jack Links
Slicedbread
Slaughter and May
Big Data for Humans
Ghana Police Service
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
Washington Department of Transport
Nottingham County Council
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Royal Air Force
Boxit Document Solutions
Boeing
Kongsberg Maritime
Teleplan
Schlumberger
New Signature