The Set-Up-To-Fail Syndrome

by Jean-Francois Manzoni & Jean-Louis Barsoux

Current Status: In Stock

Year Published: 2008

Employees underperforming? Ever thought that the problem could be management? Just as kids are evaluated and put on a certain academic track from a very early age, so too are employees assessed and evaluated from week one on the job. Employees, like kids, often wind up "living into" the expectations set for them by those in authority, despite their true capacity.

In the ever present challenge of walking the tightrope between wanting to give employees freedom and needing to stay informed, supervisors go down one of two paths with each employee: controlling or empowering.

If managers successfully negotiate this balance, the relationship and the employee typically thrive. The Set-up-to-fail syndrome occurs with the balance tips toward control rather than empowerment.

Based on the set-up-to-fail syndrome article in Harvard Business Review, authors Manzoni and Barsouz offer this powerful insight into a dynamic all too familiar to any manager - we set the expectations for those around us.