Couple of days ago I discovered a coworker wasn’t performing so well. Given the fact that we had some “Moonlightning” issues in the past (people working for two or 3 companies at a time) I wanted to understand better what was going on.

Once I had a chance to talk with him I realized that he was doing the best he could with the information provided, he had some issues, but he wasn’t the only source of problem.
We were part of the problem too. We didn’t gave him enough information to understand the problem.

I then looked at the hierarchy and saw that all people were way too busy with to many late task. Everyone was behind schedule.

They were all doing their best but still failing because they were so late for the time.
Days ago I was thinking that maybe some people were underperforming but no, I changed my mind because I know what it’s like to be late, to underperform because you’re overwhelmed.

Those people were all fighting together, failing together. This happens. There are time when you’d like some trust from the people around you, trust in a moment when you’re in trouble, when you can’t keep up.

When I looked at the situation I realized that was one of those times. People can be excellent, once you allow them to be so.