# fixing-underperforming-teams

Diagnoses why a team is struggling and builds a structured recovery plan. Helps leaders handle skill gaps, structural friction, and difficult talent choices.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 329 installs · ★ 1434
- Author: RefoundAI
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-07-16
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams

## What it does

The skill diagnoses team dysfunction using frameworks from 12 Lenny's Podcast guests and newsletter issues. It helps distinguish between leadership deficits or structural misalignment. Inside are practical tools: the OISA model and Stripe's Enthusiastic Rehire Test.

The agent walks you through separating ability issues from motivation gaps. It audits failing projects against five pillars: vision, skills, incentives, resources, and action plans. It also provides scripts for direct feedback conversations and engineering manager transitions.

Taking on double duty to cover for an underperforming manager breaks this process, because masking the failure keeps the leadership gap invisible. Deep dives and detailed playbooks rely on the bundled files in `references/`.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill fixing-underperforming-teams -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill fixing-underperforming-teams -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill fixing-underperforming-teams -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install RefoundAI/lenny-skills fixing-underperforming-teams
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill fixing-underperforming-teams -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills --path skills/fixing-underperforming-teams
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill fixing-underperforming-teams -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- Diagnose whether failures stem from skills, leadership, or strategy
- Separate employee capability issues from motivation problems
- Audit stalled initiatives across vision, resources, and incentives
- Prepare scripts for difficult feedback and manager offboarding

## Example prompts
- Help me diagnose why our engineering team has missed sprint goals for two months
- Run an enthusiastic rehire test for my direct report and draft a feedback script
- Audit our failing rollout across the five elements of change

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

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BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE fad7e6dc79cb2adb
```text
---
name: fixing-underperforming-teams
description: Help users identify why a team is struggling and implement a structured recovery plan by addressing leadership gaps, individual performance, and structural misalignments.
---

# 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. And then within those buckets you've got to figure out what are the right levers that you need to pull? What are the things that are missing?"

Audit failing initiatives against vision, skills, incentives, resources, and action plans. If any one of these is missing, the turnaround will fail.

### Use Goals as Diagnostics
```
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First 2576 of 6808 bytes. © RefoundAI · MIT · https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/fixing-underperforming-teams/SKILL.md

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