Leaders Must Show What Great Looks Like
One of the most prominent mistakes leaders make is waiting until the outcome to judge success—only to turn around and criticize teams for not meeting expectations they were never clear on in the first place.
This is a failure of leadership, not execution.
If leaders expect teams to perform at a high level, they must define what good looks like upfront—before assessing outcomes. It’s not about micromanaging or prescribing rigid steps; it’s about setting the bar clearly so teams know what they’re aiming for.
Clarity Before Criticism
Too often, leaders take a hands-off approach, assuming that simply hiring smart people and forming teams will produce great results. When things don’t go as expected, the blame falls squarely on the teams.
“Why didn’t you deliver on time?”
“Why doesn’t this meet the business need?”
“Why did we spend all this time building something that doesn’t work?”
But how often were these expectations made explicit before the work started?
If teams don’t know what success looks like, they are forced to guess—and guessing is a terrible strategy for achieving excellence.
Accountability Works Both Ways
This isn’t just a leadership problem; it’s also a team accountability problem.
Teams must take ownership of their work and demand clarity if it isn’t given. If expectations are vague, teams have a responsibility to ask the right questions:
“What does success look like for this initiative?”
“How will we know we’ve done a good job?”
“What are the measurable outcomes we need to achieve?”
Accountability is a two-way street. Leaders must define success, and teams must ensure they understand it.
The Formula of Evidential Elements of Agility™: A Clear Definition of “Great”
This is exactly why I created The Formula of Evidential Elements of Agility™—to provide a clear, evidence-based definition of what good looks like across end-to-end product development and delivery.
From Idea to Post-Production, this framework eliminates ambiguity by:
Defining the key elements that drive successful delivery.
Providing teams with clear criteria before they are assessed.
Ensuring alignment between leadership expectations and team execution.
Instead of retroactively assessing teams and penalizing them for missing invisible targets, this approach gives teams the knowledge they need upfront. So they can meet the bar rather than be blindsided by it.
Lead by Showing, Not Just Judging
Great leaders don’t just measure performance—they enable it. They ensure that teams have the tools, insights, and clarity they need to succeed.
So before leaders critique an outcome, they should ask themselves:
Did we define what good looks like?
Did the teams understand what they were accountable for?
Did we provide guidance before assessment?
If the answer is no, then the failure isn’t on the teams—it’s on leadership.
Success isn’t an accident. Set the bar. Show what good looks like. Then, hold people accountable. That’s how fundamental transformation happens.