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Diagnosing Employee Performance Issues Worksheet
đź’ľ Want to keep your work? Fill out the worksheet, then use the Print / Save as PDF button to capture your responses. Your answers are not saved automatically. Print / Save as PDF When an employee isn’t performing as expected, the instinct is often to focus on the individual. But roughly 80% of performance problems trace back to organizational factors, not the person. This worksheet uses Carl Binder’s Six Boxes® model to help you diagnose performance issues systematically — ruling causes in or out before prescribing a fix. The Six Boxes® Model at a Glance Organizational Factors — Boxes 1–3 1. Information & FeedbackClear roles, expectations, guidance, and frequent feedback 2. Tools & ResourcesMaterials, time, processes, and a supportive environment 3. IncentivesFinancial/non-financial rewards, consequences, opportunity to succeed Individual Factors — Boxes 4–6 4. Knowledge & SkillsNecessary knowledge, experience, training, and practice 5. CapacityPhysical, intellectual, and emotional ability to perform 6. MotivesPersonal motivation aligned with work; fit for the role 1 Identify the Performance Gap Compare expected performance to actual performance to name the gap clearly. Employee / Role Expected Performance Current Performance The Gap Key Reminders Performance is task-specific — people excel at some tasks and struggle with others. […]
Is Your Career Happening to You?
Module 1 · Resource 1 of 15 · Why Career Planning Matters Is Your Career Happening to You? Why Faculty Need Career Planning You’ll recognize Most academic careers are shaped by default decisions, not intention — and why career planning is how you change that. The Road Got Foggy Think about how you got here. Did you map out a deliberate course from graduate student to faculty member, plotting each move with intention? Or did you follow a path that opened in front of you — a mentor’s encouragement, an opportunity at the right moment, a position that felt like the logical next step? If you’re honest, it’s probably the second one. And that’s not a failure of planning. That’s just how most academic careers begin. But here’s the thing: what works at the start of a career — following open doors, saying yes, proving yourself — doesn’t always serve you in the middle of it. At the mid-career stage, the path gets less clear. The structure that guided you through graduate school and the tenure track starts to disappear. And if you’re still operating on default — reacting, obliging, accumulating responsibilities without intention — you can arrive at a […]
Is Your Career Happening to You?
Why Faculty Need Career Planning You’ll recognize: Most academic careers are shaped by default decisions, not intention — and why career planning is how you change that. The Road Got Foggy Think about how you got here. Did you map out a deliberate course from graduate student to faculty member, plotting each move with intention? Or did you follow a path that opened in front of you — a mentor’s encouragement, an opportunity at the right moment, a position that felt like the logical next step? If you’re honest, it’s probably the second one. And that’s not a failure of planning. That’s just how most academic careers begin. But here’s the thing: what works at the start of a career — following open doors, saying yes, proving yourself — doesn’t always serve you in the middle of it. At the mid-career stage, the path gets less clear. The structure that guided you through graduate school and the tenure track starts to disappear. And if you’re still operating on default — reacting, obliging, accumulating responsibilities without intention — you can arrive at a genuinely uncomfortable place. What the Data Tells Us Faculty at this stage aren’t alone in feeling uncertain. Research […]
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Five Skills We Need to Be Teaching Leaders Now to Prepare for an Uncertain FutureÂ
If the last five years in higher education have taught us anything, it’s that disruption is no longer episodic; it’s continuous. Financial pressure, demographic shifts, changing public expectations, advances in artificial intelligence, and growing questions about the value of higher education are no longer distant threats but daily leadership realities. We cannot predict exactly what higher education will look like in five or ten years. But we can predict this: that change will be constant, that ambiguity will be the norm, and that leaders will be asked to make high-stakes decisions with incomplete information and competing interests. That future offers profound implications for leadership development. If we continue to prepare leaders only for today’s higher education landscape, we will leave them underprepared to lead our institutions into the future. The future demands leaders who can think strategically and expansively, who can engage in anticipatory thinking, and who can navigate complexity without defaulting to fear, rigidity, or zero-sum thinking. Following are five skills that leadership programs should be teaching now. 1. Design Thinking: Encouraging “Possibility” Thinking Design thinking is, at its core, a disciplined approach to problem-solving that prioritizes curiosity, empathy, experimentation, and learning. It emphasizes divergent thinking, generating many possibilities, before moving into convergent thinking, where choices are narrowed and decisions are made. The sequencing […]
Why Well-Intentioned Leadership Development Programs in Higher Ed Fall Short—And What to Do InsteadÂ
Over the past two decades, I’ve had the privilege of designing and delivering more than 100 leadership development programs in higher education and supporting institutions as they launched dozens more. These programs have ranged from single, cohort-based initiatives to multi-layered efforts designed to shape institutional culture over time. At Academic Impressions, we’ve worked with first-time department chairs as well as with presidents rebuilding senior cabinets. We’ve partnered with well-resourced research universities as well as with small and mid-sized institutions doing the best they can with very limited capacity. The good news is that during this time, I’ve seen a growing recognition that leadership development is mission critical. More institutions are investing in helping leaders to build emotional intelligence, resolve conflict more productively, lead teams effectively, and navigate change with greater confidence. Many are also working intentionally to build pipelines for future leaders who will be ready when the moment calls. And yet, because many institutions have limited experience designing leadership development programs, a predictable set of mistakes shows up again and again. Ironically, these missteps are usually rooted in good intentions—but they ultimately undermine the very outcomes these programs are meant to achieve. Following are the five most common mistakes I see when institutions launch or attempt to sustain leadership programming. 1. Trying to Do Too Much In an effort to be comprehensive, institutions often try to cover as much […]
Getting Back on Track: Ten Strategies for Successful Two- and Four-Year Institutional Transfer Partnerships
Amidst the current upheavals in higher education, the needs of largely marginalized students attending community colleges garner few headlines. Last year, the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Columbia University, in partnership with the Aspen Institute, reported a national transfer rate of 16 percent—only two percentage points higher than a similar study conducted a decade earlier. Despite years of investment by federal, state, and local governments, colleges and universities, and the philanthropic community, we see no empirical evidence that we are broadly improving the odds for community college students attempting to complete a bachelor’s degree by transferring to a four-year institution. Yet the allure of a bachelor’s degree remains a powerful ticket to the middle class for these individuals. Despite the increased skepticism about higher education, as many as 80 percent of new community college students understand the long-term benefits, and express an interest in transferring in order to earn a four-year degree. Have we hit a transfer rate ceiling? Is the stratified structure of U.S. postsecondary education impervious to a fully effective transfer pathway as envisioned by education progressives over a century ago? These are difficult but necessary questions. The pathway between community colleges and four-year institutions will only become […]
Building Better Leaders: 7 Key Practices from High-Impact Leadership ProgramsÂ
In today’s evolving higher education landscape, institutions increasingly recognize that strong leadership isn’t just essential for individual success—it’s vital for organizational resilience and transformation. At Academic Impressions, after over twenty years of serving higher education, we’ve had the privilege of seeing how colleges and universities have strengthened their leadership benches in powerful, innovative ways. When we launched the Best Places to Grow initiative, we aimed to highlight this incredible work. From major R1s to small private colleges to large public universities, we found outstanding leadership programs making a measurable difference. While every program has its unique identity, certain best practices clearly emerged across our nominee pool. In this article, we spotlight seven practices that help leadership development efforts truly flourish. 1. Embracing Program Evolution and Iteration Many leaders want to launch fully formed, polished programs right out of the gate. But lasting success often comes through agility and iteration. Programs that evolve based on feedback, shifting needs, and ongoing reflection often achieve the greatest impact. Examples of Iterative Leadership Programs: Takeaway: Start small, launch pilots, listen closely, and iterate often for continuous growth and relevance. 2. Making Coaching a Core Component Leadership isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey. Personalized coaching […]