{"id":16917,"date":"2020-10-28T22:31:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T02:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=16917"},"modified":"2020-10-31T23:48:31","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T03:48:31","slug":"drift-to-low-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/drift-to-low-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Drift to Low Performance: Why These Systems Fail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What does it mean to drift to low performance in a system? How can it harm the system, and how can you fix it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drift to low performance, or boiled frog syndrome, happens when a system lowers the bar for its goals to match underperformance. It is one of the many ways that systems can fail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about how systems drift to low performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Drift to Low Performance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Also known as: eroding goals, boiled frog syndrome. Heres how a drift to low performance happens, and how it can lead to low system performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How It Happens<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In a drift to low performance, the actor sets a performance bar that it tries to perform above. However, instead of keeping the bar fixed at an absolute level, the bar is actually set relative to previous performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the actor performs under the bar, the bar is then set a bit lower. This might be excused by sentiments like, \u201cWell, it\u2019s not that much worse than last year\u201d or \u201cWell, everyone\u2019s in trouble too, so we\u2019re not doing that<\/em> badly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if the actor has a tendency to undershoot the bar, this leads to a vicious cycle that drags the performance down, possibly to complete failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This drift tends to happen at a gradual<\/em> decline. A sharp decline would cause alarm and prompt a forceful correction. However, in a gradual decline, the actor tends to become complacent and forget how good things used to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples of Drift to Low Performance<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A business that is losing market share can lower its targets and progressively lose share until it becomes bankrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Steve Jobs commented on why he was infamously harsh on hiring: \u201cA players hire A players, but B players hire C players and C players hire D players. It doesn\u2019t take long to get to Z players. The trickle down effect<\/a> causes bozo explosions in companies.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fixing Drift to Low Performance<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Instead of setting performance standards relative to previous performance, set absolute standards that don\u2019t change with performance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better yet, turn the vicious cycle into a virtuous cycle\u2014set the goals relative to the best performance. If the system overperforms the goal, set the goal higher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This low system performance can be a problem, and will require system intervention. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does it mean to drift to low performance in a system? How can it harm the system, and how can you fix it? Drift to low performance, or boiled frog syndrome, happens when a system lowers the bar for its goals to match underperformance. It is one of the many ways that systems can fail. Read more about how systems drift to low performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,34,14],"tags":[139],"class_list":["post-16917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-communication","category-management","tag-thinking-in-systems","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nDrift to Low Performance: Why These Systems Fail - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What does drift to low performance mean? In systems thinking, this is one of the many ways that systems can fail. 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