The Nine Laws Every Manager Must Master
(Before Blaming Their Team)
Meet Claud Burnham
Claud Burnham didn’t think he was a bad manager. He thought he was the only adult in a room full of underperformers.
On Monday morning, he told his team they needed to “step it up,” but never bothered to say what “it” was. By Tuesday, he’d changed the priorities twice, then complained that everyone was “scatterbrained.” On Wednesday, he rolled out a new process he’d scribbled on a napkin during lunch. He gave no training, no tools, no plan.
When people asked questions, Claud sighed loudly and told them to “figure it out.” When mistakes happened, he reminded everyone that “this isn’t complicated,” even though he’d never explained the standard. And when turnover climbed, Claud shook his head and said, “People just don’t want to work anymore.”
Claud Burnham isn’t a villain.
He is the predictable outcome of a culture that confuses pressure with leadership, chaos with intensity, and toughness with competence.
He didn’t know how to build people, so he burned them instead.
Don’t be a Claud.
How Real Leaders Build Performance
Most workplaces run on an unspoken assumption: If performance drops, the team’s attitude or lack of effort is the problem.
They “weren’t paying attention.”
They “didn’t care enough.”
They “just weren’t cut out for it.”
Clauds jump to conclusions about attitude and ability long before they ever examine the system the person was pushed into. And in most organizations, the system is a mess. They have unclear expectations, inconsistent standards, chaotic environments, no training, no metrics, no feedback. Then they are annoyed when people struggle.
This is how crucible cultures are born. Harm wasn’t intended, but Clauds were never taught the craft of performance leadership.
The Nine Laws of Performance Management were built to fix that. They are the foundation of every high-functioning team I’ve led, trained, or rebuilt. They are the antidote to the sink-or-swim approach that burns out more people than it ever develops.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll break down each law in detail. Today, you get the overview of my entire system.
Why Most Managers Fail Before They Even Start
Most managers were promoted for being good at their job, not because they had leadership skills. They inherit a chaotic system and do the only thing they know: repeat what they’ve seen.
The Nine Laws rewire that instinct.
The first seven laws define a leader’s responsibility. Only when those are met are you able to properly judge a team member’s performance.
Let’s look at these first.
The Nine Laws
1. Communicate Clear Expectations
Clarity isn’t “I told them what to do.”
Clarity means the other person can tell you what success is in their own words. What outcome you want. How it will be measured. What “good” looks like. What “unacceptable” looks like.
Most performance issues start right here: the expectations were never clear, consistent, or confirmed.
2. Provide Measurements
If there’s no scoreboard, there’s no game.
Without visibility, people can’t tell whether they’re improving, falling behind, or hitting the mark.
When Clauds don’t measure, they manage by emotion. When employees can’t see progress, they’re working blind.
Measurement removes guesswork.
3. Provide Knowledge and Skill (Training)
Competence doesn’t fall from the sky.
If someone hasn’t been trained properly, recently, and thoroughly, you haven’t given them the ability to succeed.
Skill gaps aren’t flaws in your employees. They’re your coaching opportunities.
A Claud who complains about untrained employees is really complaining about their own neglect.
4. Provide the Proper Tools
Even world-class performers fail with poor tools.
Tools include equipment, technology, documentation, systems, checklists, and access.
A Claud who fails to supply tools is the architect of their own frustration.
5. Provide the Proper Environment
Environment is everything: culture, clarity, norms, safety, pace, structure. A toxic or chaotic environment cancels talent, confidence, and motivation.
People don’t thrive in fear, confusion, or disorder.
Performance is built on stability and standards.
If your environment is unpredictable, your results will be too.
6. Provide the Proper Incentives
People follow the behaviors that get rewarded—formally or informally.
If you reward speed, you’ll get speed.
If you reward accuracy, you’ll get accuracy.
If you reward heroics, you’ll get burnout.
If you reward chaos, you’ll get chaos.
Incentives shape culture more than slogans and platitudes ever will.
7. Provide the Proper Feedback
Feedback is the steering wheel of performance.
Not annual reviews. Not generic praise. Not reactive criticism.
Good feedback is:
timely
specific
contextual
aimed at improvement, not punishment
Without feedback, growth stops and resentment grows.
From System to Individual
When the first seven laws are in place, the noise disappears and the real picture comes into focus.
Only then can you evaluate the individual fairly.
Next we shift from the laws that govern the system to the two laws that apply to the person.
8. Assess the Person’s Ability
Not everyone is built for every role.
If someone is miscast, they’ll struggle no matter how supportive the system is. Ability is about aptitude, natural wiring, and whether the role fits how they think, move, and solve problems.
When ability is the issue, the solution may be re-placement, not necessarily replacement.
9. Assess the Person’s Will
When all other conditions are met—expectations, training, tools, environment, incentives, feedback—only then does performance become a question of will.
Will is attitude, motivation, ownership.
But even here, leaders must ask: what damaged the will?
Burnout?
Distrust?
Inconsistency?
Misaligned incentives?
A previous condition you failed to fix?
Only after everything else is addressed should you conclude someone is unwilling.
This law comes last for a reason.
Most managers put it first and that’s why their teams fail.
Closing: The Craft, Not the Chaos
The Nine Laws eliminate guesswork and emotion from performance management. They turn leadership from a trial-by-fire gauntlet into a disciplined craft.
If you want strong, confident, capable teams, this is the foundation.
Over the next several weeks, I’ll break down each law with practical methods you can implement immediately. The goal is simple:
End crucible cultures.
Build systems that forge people instead of burning them.
Make management and leadership a craft again.
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