Agent skill · product strategy · refoundai
fixing-underperforming-teams
Help users identify why a team is struggling and implement a structured recovery plan by addressing leadership gaps, individual performance, and structural misalignments.
Why this skill is useful
Provides structured frameworks and templates for diagnosing and addressing team performance issues that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 4k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-16. 1,223 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Fixing Underperforming Teams Diagnose the root cause of dysfunction and take decisive action to restore high performance. Help the user with fixing underperforming teams using insights from 12 guests and posts across Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter. How to Help 1. Diagnose the source - Help the user distinguish between leadership failure, skill gaps, or structural strategy issues. 2. Identify complicity - Guide the leader in reflecting on how their own patterns are contributing to the team struggles. 3. Draft an action plan - Structure a sequence of interventions ranging from process changes to talent decisions. 4. Prepare for hard conversations - Provide scripts and frameworks for delivering direct feedback or handling terminations. Core Principles Apply the Enthusiastic Rehire Test Uri Levine: "Every time that you hire someone new, mark your calendars for 30 days down the road and ask yourself one question, knowing what I know today, would I hire this person? If the answer is no, fire them immediately." Regularly ask if you would still hire an individual today knowing what you know now. Admitting a hiring mistake early prevents cultural decay. Distinguish Skill from Will Anuj Rathi: "There are only three reasons why things do not happen the way you want them to happen as a leader. You can look at a person, and you would say either that person can't do, which is a capability issue, or they won't do, which is a motivation or an alignment issue, or they were not set up to do, which is really your problem that you didn't set up the ways of working now design properly." Systematically determine if underperformance is a lack of ability (can't do) or a lack of motivation (won't do). This determines whether to coach or move the person. Align the Five Elements of Change Bangaly Kaba: "I found this framework travels with me. It's got these five components to it, vision, skills, incentives, resources, action plan, and you need all of those to have change. …
How to use it
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@skills refoundai/fixing-underperforming-teams