I want to tell you about a conversation I had with a founder recently.
He had a business development hire who’d been in post for six months.
In six months, he hadn’t brought in a single new client.
The founder knew it. The team knew it. The hire almost certainly knew it.
And yet nothing had been said.
When I asked why, the answer was honest.
“He’s going through a difficult time personally. I didn’t want to add to it.”
I’ve heard versions of this more times than I can count.
Different businesses. Different people. Different reasons for the delay. But the pattern is always the same.
The decision already exists. Everyone can feel it. Nobody is saying it.
And in that silence, something starts to happen.
What the Team Sees
Most founders believe that until a decision is communicated, it doesn’t exist.
But your team doesn’t work that way.
They see the performance that isn’t being challenged. The conversation that keeps getting postponed. The person who should have been moved on three months ago.
And they draw their own conclusions.
Not about the individual.
About you.
About whether difficult things get addressed in this business... or quietly tolerated.
Every week the conversation doesn’t happen, a message is being sent.
Just not the one you intend.
What the Delay Actually Costs
The unmade decisions I see in growing businesses are almost always well-known long before any action is taken.
They sit in the room at every team meeting. They’re discussed quietly over coffee. They’ve already shaped how people feel about coming to work.
The cost isn’t just the underperforming hire. Or the unresolved issue. Or the restructure that’s been sitting in limbo.
It’s what the hesitation tells everyone watching.
That standards are negotiable here.
That if you wait long enough, difficult things go away.
That leadership will avoid what needs to be addressed.
And once that belief takes hold, it spreads further than you’d expect.
What Changed
In this case, the founder eventually had the conversation.
Not a brutal one. A clear one.
Here’s what we need from this role. Here’s what isn’t happening. Here’s what has to change — and by when.
Within weeks, the performance shifted.
Not just because of the conversation itself. But because the expectation was finally clear.
And the team - without being told anything - responded differently.
Because when leaders address what needs to be addressed, it changes something in the culture. Quietly. Without announcement.
It tells people: this is a place where standards matter. Where difficult things get handled. Where the leader can be trusted to act when action is needed.
That’s worth more than any team-building session.
The Question Worth Sitting With
What decision are you currently not making?
Not because you don’t know the answer.
But because the conversation feels uncomfortable.
Because it involves someone you like. Because you’re hoping it resolves itself. Because the timing never quite feels right.
Your team already knows what it is.
The only question is how long before you do something about it.
If that feels familiar, feel free to drop me a message, or book a Free Growth Strategy session below — always happy to share perspective on how others are navigating it.
PS: If the theme of this email resonates, Kim Scott’s 'Radical Candour' is worth a few minutes of your time. She calls it Ruinous Empathy - worth watching!
