✍️ Editor's Note

You won't find blame here. Just a painful truth:

Most of the time, "low performance" says more about your system than your team.

I've fired fast. I've regretted slowly. And over two decades in HR, I've learned that bad diagnostics create long-term damage — to people, to trust, and to your own leadership reputation.

If you manage people, this might be one of the most important tools I can share with you.

❌ The Wrong Labels Hurt

Someone in your team seems off. Quiet. Disconnected. Not "shining."

Someone in your team seems off. Quiet. Disconnected. Not "shining."

You start wondering: "Are they disengaged?" "Are they the wrong fit?" "Should we manage them out?"

But here's the uncomfortable truth:

Most performance problems don't come from people. They come from broken systems.

And when we mislabel them... we don't just lose talent. We lose trust, culture, and credibility.

🧭 The Dual Lens of Performance

I got learn that every performance issue has two sides:

1. The Individual Context Skills, mindset, energy, stage of life, and emotional capacity.

2. The Systemic Barriers Vague goals, missing feedback, broken processes, poor rituals, silence from above.

False low performers exist in the gap between real potential and invisible blockers.

🔍 The 10 False Low Performers

Let’s get this clear: I hate labelling people! Neverheless, in a world full of complexity and uncertainty, clustering profiles does come handy 🙂 

Here are 10 profiles — all of whom got misjudged in real companies I have worked for:

(Yap, free deck below with all profiles in detail and strategies to tackle them)

1. The Ghost Worker – Present, just not visibly

2. The Quiet High Performer – Excellent, but silent

3. The Process-Trapped – Blocked by the system

4. The Mismatched Skillset – Right person, wrong context

5. The Unclear Scope Victim – Never had clarity

6. The Feedback-Orphan – Never got usable input

7. The Burned-Out Loyalist – Once essential, now exhausted

8. The Miscast Top Talent – Lost in the wrong game

9. The Political Outsider – No sponsor, no air time

10. The Cynic-in-Progress – Used to care. Still might.

Each of these can be misread. Each of them can be saved — if you act before you judge.

💡 The Manager's Checklist

This is most likely the most dificult step: the first one. Before you "decide" someone is underperforming, ask yourself:

• Have I been clear about what success looks like?

• What blockers am I ignoring or enabling?

• Have they received real feedback in the last 2 weeks?

• Are they quietly fighting a battle I haven't noticed?

• Is this person suffering — or just unseen?

💬 Quote to Remember

"Before you call someone a low performer, ask yourself: Low performance against what clarity? What support? What system?"

📊 Stat to Keep in Mind

💥 67% of employees say they've received unclear or conflicting expectations from their managers in the past year.

(Source: Gallup, 2023)

🎞️ Expert Deck (Download and Share)

Want to use this with your team leads or in a training session?

🎯 Access the full visual deck (with the 10 profiles, actions + system insights):

📚 Further Reading

1. Radical Candor by Kim Scott
   How feedback — done wrong — creates fear.
   Buy on Amazon

2. The Fearless Organization by Amy C. Edmondson
   What psychological safety really looks like — and why it matters.
   Buy on Amazon

🚀 This Is Part of the Premium Series

The Boring Manager – Don't Be One.

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🧠 Insight + diagnostic
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