There’s a particular kind of organizational conversation that happens after projects fail, targets are missed, or initiatives collapse. It goes something like this: “I know we didn’t hit the numbers, but Sarah really tried. She put in the hours, dealt with all the complexity, showed real passion for this. You can’t fault the effort.”
And then, quietly, the consequences unfold anyway. The layoffs happen. The contracts get canceled. The partnerships dissolve. The audit fails. Because while the organization was busy celebrating effort, reality was keeping score differently.
This is the gap between trying and delivering – and it reveals something fundamental about how systems protect themselves from accountability.
The Effort Trap
Organizations don’t accidentally reward effort over results. It serves specific needs: protecting feelings, avoiding hard questions about strategy, deflecting leadership accountability. A culture that celebrates “trying hard” feels more supportive than one that demands results.
But here’s what goes unexamined: the cost always falls elsewhere. While the organization congratulates itself on being understanding, customers experience the service gaps, partners absorb the delays, and market opportunities slip away.
When Trying Becomes Sufficient
Something crucial disappears when “trying” becomes enough: the connection between decisions and consequences. Performance reviews focus on attitude rather than outcomes. Post-mortems emphasize effort rather than effectiveness. Strategic planning confuses good intentions with reliable execution.
The systemic danger is profound: if nobody names the reason for failure, then nobody names what to change. Organizations become trapped in cycles of well-intentioned incompetence.
The Real Alternative
This isn’t about dismissing genuine obstacles or becoming cold toward human experience. It’s about creating cultures where people own outcomes rather than just effort. Where “trying hard” becomes the baseline expectation, not the achievement.
The people who understand this don’t just work harder when things aren’t working. They work differently. They ask better questions, build better systems, and take responsibility for results rather than just processes.
The world doesn’t need more people who try hard. It needs more people who take responsibility for making things work.