Why High-Skilled People Still Underperform in Your Business
Issue #1 | June 2025
Hello Reader,
Have you ever wondered why certain people in your organization—who clearly have the skills—still don’t perform to their full potential?
You’ve hired for competency. You’ve provided training. On paper, they check all the boxes.
But something’s still missing.
What if the issue isn’t about capability, but about alignment?
Let’s unpack that.
What keeps an organization thriving like a living, growing tree?
Picture your business as a tree.
The fruits represent performance and results.
The branches are the teams and functions.
The trunk is your leadership and structure.
The roots represent your Core Values.
Now think about this: You can water the leaves, polish the fruits, trim the branches… But unless the roots are strong, deep, and aligned with the environment, the tree won’t thrive.
In most businesses I work with, the roots (core values) are either:
Weak (just words on a wall),
Shallow (not reinforced), or
Misaligned (not lived by the leadership team).
This is where performance starts breaking down.
“Competency without core value alignment is like a branch
trying to grow without roots.”
🧭 What Are Your Options?
As a Business Owner, you essentially have two levers to pull:
Get the Culture Right (Core Values + Behaviours) This is about creating clarity on how people should behave, not just what they should achieve. It sets the tone for accountability, collaboration, ownership, and trust.
Focus on Competencies (Skills, Experience, Performance Metrics) This is easier to measure and hire for, but it only works when the cultural foundation is already strong.
Let me be blunt, If you choose competencies without culture, you’ll constantly face friction. But if you get the culture right, competencies can be developed, coached, or trained. 👉Culture eats strategy (and skills) for breakfast.
🧩 The Solution: Define. Display. Drive.
Here’s a simple framework to build a culture that actually sticks.
In Summary:
Your culture is like the root system of a tree—essential, yet often hidden.
People with the right skills still underperform if they aren’t aligned with your organization’s Core Values.
Defining the right Core Values and making them part of performance reviews turns culture into a real asset.
“Get the culture right, and the rest will follow.”
“Great businesses are built by great business owners.”
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