Back in the day, there used to be only two reasons why a staff member let you down when given a task – they either lacked the skill, or they lacked the will. Skill-Will.
Over the past 17 years as a business coach, I have come up with five additional reasons why tasks you allocate don’t get done to your satisfaction, or don’t get done at all. These seven reasons I have been able to work into a mnemonic, or a shortcut to remembering them. The mnemonic is SUCCESS.
| Skill | the person may lack the skill required to complete the task to your satisfaction, or at all |
| Understanding | the person may have the skill, but doesn’t understand what you want done, or by when |
| Capacity | the person has the skill and understanding but lacks the available time to complete the task |
| Consequence | The person has the skill, understanding and capacity, but there is no consequence to them for not completing the task |
| Energy | the person has the skill, understanding, capacity and a consequence is in place, that they couldn’t be stuffed doing the task, not for you, or they have unhelpful beliefs, like it’s not their job, or it’s not their turn. |
| System | the person has the skill, understanding, capacity, a consequence is in place, and have the energy, but the system is too bureaucratic, cumbersome or keeps crashing |
| Support | they have everything to do the task, but they lack the support. For example, someone promised to review a document, or provide some information, or give them a hand, but that person didn’t show up |
The reason why its useful to know which one or two reasons are driving poor performance is so that you apply the right remedy.
There is no point
- sending someone to a training course if they already have the skill.
- explaining the task to them again if they already understood the first time.
- punishing people with a consequence if it’s the system that sucks
- giving them more time if they had plenty
- providing more support when you really needed to apply a consequence
Identify the right reason, apply the correct remedy, and get performance back on track.
