In this solo leadership video, the speaker argues that team underperformance is fundamentally a leader’s accountability issue. He presents a three‑step, tactical formula for fixing underperformance: (1) set crystal‑clear expectations—covering job descriptions, core values, brand promises, departmental goals, role‑specific KPIs, and the overall mission; (2) create a self‑measurement tool that requires the team member to log progress daily or weekly, because self‑tracking dramatically increases corrective action; and (3) reinforce performance with consistent, specific feedback that celebrates incremental gains and outlines concrete steps toward the target. The speaker illustrates each step with anecdotes (a recent underperformer who improved once expectations were clarified) and a weight‑loss study showing the power of self‑measurement. He emphasizes that accountability is an ongoing process, not a single conversation, and that a culture of accountability begins with the leader’s example. The video concludes by inviting viewers to suggest future topics for the new series on tactical leadership and business fundamentals.
Chapters
Underperformance isn't just about them. It's actually about you. How you handle it determines whether you fix the problem or you let it spiral into something worse. Here's the thing. If someone on your team isn't meeting expectations, accountability is the solution. And it doesn't start with them. It actually starts with you. I used to hear people say, you just need to hold them accountable. And I'm like, what does that mean? Nobody ever explained to me how to do this thing. It's like, be honest, trust people, hold them accountable. Okay, but how? And so this video isn't theory, it is tactical. I'm gonna show you how to address underperformance step by step so you can fix the problem at its root and get your teammate back on track. The first thing in the formula for accountability is set clear expectations. Most underperformance starts because there are no clear expectations. If your team doesn't know what success looks like, how can they hit the mark? Fuzzy goals and vague directions just create excuses for underperformance. While if you have crystal clear expectations, you eliminate all that ambiguity. And so the question becomes, how do I set clear expectations? Expectations start when you are hiring the person. Do you have a clear job description that actually says what the person's doing? Do you have core values that tell someone what the culture is and what it isn't? Do you have a brand promise around what your delivery is for your customers? Are you fast? Are you good? Are you cheap? Are you what? Do you have expectations for the department that they're in? Does the sales team know how many sales to make? Does the finance team know what our revenue target is? Do you have role expectations? Do they know what their KPIs are tied to their roles? And do you have a company mission? All of these things tie into expectations. And if you don't have any one of those things, this is a great opportunity to go ahead and say, great, I can set more clear expectations. The question to ask yourself, did I tell them what good looks like? The vision you have in your head for what good is, they need to know that vision. You can't expect what you didn't explain. Here's the thing that I've learned. Most people want to do well. Most people want to win. And most people want to feel good about themselves. Almost every time that I have had a teammate that's underperforming, it has been because expectations were not crystal clear. Even as of recently, I had someone on a team who was underperforming, and then I went to their boss. Their boss was saying, I'm not sure if this person is going to make it. And I went to them and said, did you clearly explain to them what your expectations were? Have you told them as clearly as you've told me? And that person said no. I said, great, let's have a conversation. Let's tell them what those expectations are. They had the conversation. What happened? Within 2 weeks, their performance was on par with everybody else on the team. Why is that? Was it because suddenly they got the skills? No, it's because they didn't know what good looked like. They didn't know what they were expected to do, and they didn't know what the standard was. The second thing you've got to do is create a self-measurement tool. When underperformance is not tracked, it gets ignored and only grows in the direction you don't want to. It's sort of like if you're trying to lose weight. If you want to keep weight on, don't weigh yourself. If you want to lose weight, measure yourself on the scale every day. Without metrics to measure progress, you're left relying on feelings and assumptions, which often lead to missed opportunity and course correction later. Measurement creates visibility. It shows you where someone stands and gives them feedback. And so the question is, how do you create a self-measurement tool? Self-measurement means that you create some sort of tool where your teammate fills in their progress rather than you. So a lot of people think, oh gosh, holding people accountable is gonna be so much work. Well, it's not because the most effective way to hold somebody accountable is to have them measure their own performance. You can do this through having them fill out an end-of-week report, having them fill out a scorecard every day, having them fill out utilization metrics, having them follow KPIs that they have to fill out on a daily basis, or having them submit surveys. The most important thing is that they do the measuring, not you, because people who measure their own performance are 3 times more likely to take action to perform better. There was a study done and it had a group of people during the holiday season. And what they did is they had one group of people who didn't weigh themselves, and they had another group of people who weighed themselves every day. Here's what happened. The group that didn't weigh themselves, they actually gained weight during the holidays. Now, what happened to the group that did weigh themselves? They lost weight during the holidays. These people did not go on a diet. They didn't go on a meal plan. They didn't work out. They didn't change nothing. They were just conscious of their weight. The same goes for performance. If you simply measure something, it almost always goes in the direction you want it to. The next step is reinforce. Underperformance doesn't fix itself, okay? It needs consistent feedback and follow-up, okay? And so many leaders address an issue once and assume it's gonna stay solved forever, but without consistent follow-through and reminding and reinforcement, underperformance continues to be the norm. Feedback, AKA reinforcement, is the only multiplier for accountability. If you give somebody more feedback, they will improve performance faster and better. If you give somebody less feedback, they will improve slower and not as well. It is the only thing that can multiply the efforts of your teammate. And without it, underperformance will absolutely continue to be the norm. So the question is, how do you provide that kind of feedback? Here's the thing, accountability is not a single conversation. It is an ongoing process. And so what you want to do is that you have the expectations, you've tied those expectations to a measurement, and then they are going to report that measurement to you. What you do next is called feedback. Telling them, If they're at an 8 out of 10, how do you get to a 10? If they're at a 6 out of 10, how do you get to 10? What are the tactical steps to get there? And calling out their wins when they've made progress. Just because they're not a 10 doesn't mean that you say, you suck. It means that you can still congratulate them for being a 6 because yesterday they were a 5. Reward them for progress, not perfection. Reinforce the fact that they're going in the right direction. And remind them of the steps to get to a 10 if they're not there yet. You have expectations and then you have performance. Accountability is the glue that brings those two together. Underperformance is a symptom of low accountability. If you fix accountability, you fix the problem. And it's not about micromanaging. It's not about being harsh. It's about creating clarity, measuring progress, and consistently giving feedback. That's it. And remember this, The culture of accountability starts with you. Be the example, set the standard, and watch how your team transforms. This is a part of a new series where I'm going to share tactical advice on leadership and business fundamentals. If you want more like this, or you like this format, let me know in the comments and let me know if you've got specific topics or challenges that you want me to address.
