The simple reason your team’s problems keep repeating
“A bad system will beat a good person every time.” - W. Edwards Deming
Most leaders I work with are not lazy, careless, or blind to what’s going on around them. They can see the missed deadlines. They can feel the tension in meetings. They know morale has dipped, or that too much energy is being spent chasing people, patching issues, and firefighting the same problems again and again.
So naturally, they push harder.
They add more process. Tighten targets. Have another difficult conversation. Remind people what good looks like. Sometimes they even change roles, restructure teams, or bring in fresh talent.
And still, somehow, the same issues come back. Sometimes worse: defensiveness, disengagement, burnout.
That’s usually the moment I start talking about culture and leadership behaviour.
Because when a problem keeps repeating, it’s often a sign that we’re trying to solve it at the wrong level. We’re addressing the visible symptom, but not the system underneath it.
And in my experience, that ‘system’ is the culture people are working inside every day… shaped, intentionally or not, by leadership behaviour.
Why problems keep repeating
One of the simplest ways I explain this to clients is: people repeat what ‘the system’ makes easy.
If it’s hard to speak honestly → people stay quiet
If urgency is rewarded over reflection → mistakes repeat
If ownership is unclear → accountability slips
If leaders control everything → initiative drops
If people don’t feel safe or valued → performance becomes inconsistent
That doesn’t mean individuals have no responsibility. Of course they do. But it does mean I’m cautious about blaming people too quickly. Deming’s point is powerful - repeated issues are often built into the way work is set up, led, and experienced.
Why pushing harder makes it worse
When the root issue is cultural, more pressure doesn’t fix it - it amplifies it.
Pressure reduces openness
People protect themselves. They say less, risk less, and do what feels safe.
Pressure hides the real issue
When leaders focus only on output, they can miss the behaviours underneath it. For example:
A missed deadline might actually be a clarity issue.
Slow decision-making might actually be a trust issue.
Low energy might actually be a belonging or recognition issue.
Poor collaboration might actually be a safety or accountability issue.
Pressure creates recurrence, not resolution
You fix the symptom - not the pattern. So it comes back.
That’s why I’m so interested in repeat patterns.
Repetition is data. It tells you something in the environment is sustaining the issue.
What I look for underneath recurring issues
When something keeps resurfacing, I’m usually looking for:
Low trust → people manage risk, not performance
Lack of clarity → success is vague
Weak accountability → ownership isn’t defined
Mixed leadership signals → what leaders say ≠ what they reward
People learn from what leaders do, not what they say.
What actually shifts the pattern
The good news is this doesn’t require a big ‘culture programme’. It’s much simpler than that.
Start with one recurring business issue and ask:
What keeps repeating here?
What are we treating as a people issue that might be systemic?
What conditions are making this more likely?
Then look at leadership:
What are we reinforcing or tolerating?
Where might we be creating caution, confusion, or dependence?
And most importantly:
Fix conditions, not just outcomes
If engagement is low, don’t just ask for more enthusiasm.
If accountability is weak, don’t just ask for more ownership.
If collaboration is poor, don’t just tell people to “work better together.”
Instead, change the conditions that make the right outcomes easier:
Clarify expectations
Create safer conversations
Improve feedback quality
Define ownership properly
Model trust and openness at the top
What to do
If this has made you think about a problem that keeps resurfacing in your team, don’t just ask who needs to try harder.
Ask what the pattern is trying to tell you.
What if it’s not effort… but environment?
That’s often where the real shift begins.
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P.S. If you’re not sure where to start, pick one recurring issue from the past month and ask your team: “What made this harder than it needed to be?”
It’s a simple question - but it usually surfaces the real issue much faster than another push on performance.