Nobody sits down on a Monday and decides what their team will be allowed to get away with. Which is a problem, because your team is operating to a set of standards right now, and not one of them is the standard you would have written. Something happens, you are busy, you let it go. Then it happens again, and what you do the second time becomes the rule. Here is how to see what you have already agreed to, and why you cannot simply start enforcing it tomorrow.
Your best person is still here. That is not the same as still having them. There is a moment when a high performer works out that the standard they hold themselves to is not the one anybody else is being held to. Most people assume the risk is that they leave. The more common outcome is quieter and more costly. They stay, and they ramp down to the level everyone else is getting away with. One question tells you whether it has already happened.
Think about the last month. Who got the most of your attention? It was almost certainly the person causing you the most trouble. Now think about your best person. How much time did they get? Most leaders spend the bulk of their attention on the bottom of the team and almost none on the top, which means the person who most repays it receives the least. Quint Studer's model says start at the top, and the order does the work.
Feedback is a gift. It says so on a poster somewhere in your building. So why does almost everybody flinch when they hear the word? Because most of what arrives labelled as a gift is an elephant: large, unasked for, impossible to return. A gift is chosen for the person receiving it. An elephant is chosen for the person giving it. One question, asked before you open your mouth, tells you which one you are holding.
