A leader told me last week that her team keeps missing deadlines.
"They know what needs to get done. They say they'll do it. And then it doesn't happen."
She was frustrated. Understandably.
But she was doing what most leaders do when things slip.
Treating every miss the same way.
More follow-up.
More pressure.
More accountability.
So I asked her to walk me through the last five things that slipped.
Not the outcomes.
The stories behind them.
One person had said yes to something they didn't fully understand.
Another was blocked by a colleague, and the real conversation wasn't happening.
A third had taken on too much before the commitment was even made.
Three slips. Three completely different root causes.
And "hold them accountable" would have fixed exactly zero of them.
Having coached leaders for over 4,000 hours across the last nine years, I've seen this pattern play out hundreds of times.
And I've never found it written anywhere else.
So I built it myself.
I call it the Slip Playbook.
A slip is never just a missed deadline.
There are six root types.
And each one needs a different intervention.
That last one is the one leaders miss most. Because the person is still showing up.
Still in the meetings.
Still responding.
But something has shifted underneath.
Slower.
Quieter.
Less decisive.
That's not a deadline problem.
It's a signal.
And the best thing you can do is notice the pattern and open the real conversation.
Not "why didn't you deliver?" but "how are you, really?"
Most leaders never go there.
The ones who do are the ones people run through walls for.
So the next time something slips, don't ask "why didn't this get done?"
Ask: "What type of slip is this?"
Name it. Match the intervention.
That's not just management.
That's leadership.
