When the Problem Isn’t Performance

Issue #44
3-minute read

Hi Reader,

Last week, I wrote about developing your team one level deep — and promised to come back to what happens when a direct report isn’t doing it. Here’s what I’ve learned: the conversation you think you need to have is rarely the one that moves things.

Two patterns show up most often when a direct report isn’t developing their team.

The first: a fundraising generalist I promoted to lead a team of specialists. Smart. Committed. Right person on the bus. But struggling in ways that didn’t make sense on paper. What I eventually understood was that they couldn’t develop what they couldn’t see.

They’d never been a specialist. They had no map for what growth in a role they’d never held looked like. They weren’t failing to develop their team out of negligence. They were developing from a deficit.

The second is quieter. A manager who was perfectly comfortable. Not looking to advance. Not unhappy. Just… settled.

And because they weren’t building toward anything for themselves, they had no framework for building toward something for their people. Development plans felt like paperwork. Growth conversations felt abstract. They weren’t resistant; they were empty-handed.

Different situations. Same root problem. Neither conversation needed to start with performance.

What the data says — and what it misses

A new report from Momentive Software — the 2026 State of the Mission-Driven Workforce — found that nearly two-thirds of nonprofit managers don’t see a clear career path for themselves. The authors frame this primarily as a retention risk. And it is. But there’s a layer the report doesn’t name directly.

When your managers don’t have a vision for their own future, they have nothing to transmit to their teams. Career path clarity isn’t just about keeping your people. It’s about what they’re capable of giving while they’re there.

The conversation that worked

With the generalist-turned-manager, I had to get specific. What did they want to build? What would they want someone to say about the team they’d grown, not their own career, but the team?

Once we got concrete about that, something shifted. They stopped trying to develop their specialists into versions of themselves. They started asking better questions about what each person needed.

With the contented manager, I tried something different.

I stopped pushing on advancement entirely. Instead, I asked what they wanted to be known for. Not what title they wanted next. What they wanted to leave behind.

That reframe changed everything. Legacy isn’t about climbing. It’s about impact that outlasts you in a role. Once they connected to that, developing their team no longer felt like an HR requirement.

What this means for the conversation you’re dreading

Before you sit down with a direct report who isn’t developing their team, ask yourself: Do they have a vision for their own next chapter?

Not a promotion timeline. Not a development plan checkbox. A real answer to: what do I want to be known for, and what does the team I build say about me?

If they don’t have that, the performance conversation won’t land. You’ll be pushing on a door with no frame.

Start with legacy. The accountability conversation comes after.

On My Radar

Still sitting with Cialdini’s Influence. This week, the chapter on commitment and consistency hit differently in the context of legacy conversations. When you help someone name what they want to be known for, you’re not just clarifying their future. You’re creating a commitment they’ll work to maintain.

Your Turn

This week, try the reframe once. You have a direct report who isn’t developing their team. I’ll bet retention is a challenge, too. Before your next conversation with them, which situation fits better?

A: I’ve never asked them what they want to be known for. I don’t know.

B: I know what they want, but we’ve never connected it to how they lead their team.

Either way, that’s your next conversation. Let me know which one resonates, and what happened.

Coming Next Week

Sometimes, the clarity conversation doesn’t move things forward. The problem really is effort or execution. That conversation looks different. That’s next Sunday.

Until next week,
​Christine​

PS — Before you can help your managers name their next chapter, it helps to name what's capping yours. The Chief Fundraiser OS Diagnostic is here for you.

$10.00 Chief Fundraiser OS: Find the System That's Capping You Get it now!

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I’m Christine Bork, Chief Development Officer at the American Academy of Pediatrics. I write Chief Fundraiser Weekly to share what I’m learning as I lead a growing team and try to do the work in a way that’s sustainable and thoughtful.