Your Team Is Not a Vending Machine
In The Employee Engagement Lie, I argued that leaders must stop chasing engagement and instead do the things that actually build it. One of those things is to provide direction and support, not by hovering or rescuing, but by ensuring clarity before expecting results.
Too many leaders hand out assignments like a vending machine: insert request, get result. Then they’re surprised when the result is late, off-target, or incomplete. The reality is, if your team hasn’t mastered your ways of working, your standards, and your definition of “done,” you’re not delegating, you’re abdicating.
When someone joins your team, or takes on a new responsibility, they don’t have your playbook in their head. They can’t read between your lines. Your job is to make sure they understand exactly what’s expected and how to deliver it before they can take accountability for the outcomes the team needs. The first step in making that happen is making sure the playbook actually exists, and that it’s in writing.
If It’s Not Written, It’s Not Real
All existing work must have a documented playbook. You don’t have a high-performing team without a time-tested winning playbook, and we can’t coach chaos. If it’s not written down, it’s not an existing way of working; it’s an undocumented preference, and you can’t expect mastery when everyone on the team is operating differently.
But just handing them the playbook isn’t enough, you need to know they actually understand it before they ever touch the work. Once they’ve read it, have them email you the answers to a short list of predefined Shift Questions for discussion. Their answers will be predictive of the results you’re going to get. If their takeaways don’t align with the outcomes you need, they didn’t understand the guideline.
Test Their Understanding Before They Touch the Work
At 120VC, Shift Questions enforce the experiential learning cycle. After a learning moment, they force people to reflect on what they learned and conceptualize how they’ll use it in our context. Their written answers are predictive; what they write is what they’ll do. If their description isn’t what you need them to do, coach before they touch the work, because coaching in the moment is a lot easier than cleaning up the mess after a breakdown. These aren’t fluffy “what do you think?” prompts; they’re specific to our ways of working and impossible to answer without engaging with the standard.
Here are two examples tied directly to the principles from the first two sections of this article:
“Think of a time when you handed off work without a documented process or playbook that led to an escalation or breakdown. What was the result, and how did the initial lack of clarity impact the situation?”
“If you were onboarding a new team member to an existing process, why would you use a documented playbook and shift questions to confirm they understood before asking them to use them to complete work?”
Once you’ve asked your shift questions, their answers will tell you if they’re ready to apply the process, or if coaching is needed before they even start. And here’s what to do next, depending on which one you get.
If They Wing It, They Don’t Get It
If their answers show understanding, have them apply the process in real work while you coach for alignment. You’ll get one of two outcomes: they will either wing it or attempt to follow the guidelines.
If they wing it, don’t be surprised. It’s obvious to us that if we took the time to write down our ways of working, we want them followed, but it’s not obvious to everyone. And if you’re shocked by that, you’re either not paying attention or you haven’t managed people yet.
If they wing it, they are not clear on the expectation, and the expectation is this: If it’s written down, we expect them to master it. So you will need to empathetically and directly make it clear that the expectation is that they follow the process, period.
If they attempt to follow the process, you can lean in and coach them toward mastery.
Accountability starts immediately; you’re not waiting for mastery. Real accountability isn’t something a leader “does” to someone after a breakdown; it’s built in from the start. As a leader, you set people up to be accountable by giving them a clear standard, the tools, and the support to meet it. You work with them to help them stay accountable. But in the end, they have to choose to BE accountable.
Protect those who can and will by removing those who can’t or won’t. If you tolerate those who can’t or won’t, you’re punishing the people who show up ready to deliver. If someone is trying and just needs more support, you carry them while they build mastery. But if they refuse to follow the standard, or can’t get there even after you’ve provided clear expectations, direction, and support, keeping them tells the rest of the team that mediocrity is acceptable. That erodes trust and forces your top performers to work harder to maintain the status quo.
And here’s the truth: if you keep people who can’t or won’t be accountable, you’re the one who’s not accountable.
When the Playbook Doesn’t Exist, Write It Together
When there’s no documented way of working because the task or initiative is new, the approach changes. Start by painting a clear picture of what “done” looks like and how it will measurably improve the three pillars. Make it clear that the deliverable includes both the tangible results and a documented, repeatable process for supporting this work in the future.
Ask them to outline their approach. Challenge their plan until you both believe it will work. Publish meeting notes capturing agreements and action items, and track those in a log.
As the work progresses, keep the focus on whether their actions are moving the work toward the agreed-upon outcomes. If they’re struggling to get the outcomes, roll up your sleeves, schedule working sessions, and do the job with them, not for them, while you document the emerging way of working. If, after helping them deliver and document the process together, they still can’t produce the necessary and expected results, quickly exit those who can’t or won’t.
Whether you’re using an existing playbook or building one from scratch, the principle stays the same: clarity, direction, support, and accountability from day one.
Direction & Support Is Not Coddling
Providing direction and support isn’t about micromanaging; it’s about giving people the clarity, tools, and coaching they need to succeed while helping them stay accountable from the start. In The Employee Engagement Lie, this is one of the critical shifts that separates leaders who create high performance from those who tolerate mediocrity.
If you want a team that delivers, stop treating them like a vending machine. Stop hoping they’ll figure it out. Give them the playbook, confirm they understand it, coach them in real time, and protect the willing by cutting loose the unwilling. Anything less is just you pretending to lead.
Your Next Move
Identify one team member who’s struggling to master your ways of working or tackling something without a clear process. Apply the approach that fits. Let them know that you are going to roll up your sleeves, are committed to supporting and coaching them, while making it crystal clear that, in return, it’s their job to show up and be accountable for the work.
Series note: This is the second of four follow-up articles to The Employee Engagement Lie, each one breaking down the practical steps for what to do instead of chasing engagement. If you haven’t read it yet, start there, then come back and use this three-layer clarity system as your baseline for coaching.
