🚩Tactical Memo 115: Your Best People Pay For The Problems You Avoid
The fix always goes to the same person. That habit is costing you your best one.
Justin Bateh
November 12, 2026
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Tactical Memo #115 | Navigating Modern Work · Management | 4 min read
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In brief The situation: Someone on your team missed, and you handed the fix to your best person. The mistake: Most managers I know call that trust and never see what it costs. The move: Send the fix back to its owner and give your best person work that grows them. |
The story
The report is wrong and the client call is tomorrow.
You know who dropped it.
You also know who can fix it by 5.
So you message your best person. "Can you take a look at this?"
They always say yes.
I've sent that message myself.
The call goes fine and you move on.
That was the 4th rescue this quarter.
You think you showed them trust. I think you taught them that great work on your team earns someone else's mess.
If the same name comes to mind every time something breaks, you're in this spot.
I've watched this pattern cost managers their best people.
Your best people pay for the performance problems you haven't dealt with. Here's how to work with it.
The moves
1/ Count the rescues
I'd start with the last 30 days.
Write down every fix you gave to someone who didn't cause the problem.
The list shows you who is paying.
Checklist What broke. Who owned it. Who fixed it. |
2/ Send the fix back to its owner
My rule is that the person who missed corrects it, with your help if they need it.
A miss that someone else repairs teaches the owner NOTHING.
The owner fixes it, or the miss happens again.
Say this "This came back with errors. I need you to correct it by end of day tomorrow, and I'll review it with you before it goes out." |
3/ Have the conversation you've been putting off
I think the rescues keep happening because 1 direct talk hasn't.
I know it's the harder talk.
Name the gap and the standard, then set a date to check in.
Every rescue you assign buys you another week of avoiding it.
Say this "Your last 2 deliverables needed rework from someone else. That can't continue. I'll show you the standard and the support I'll give you to hit it." |
4/ Name the cost when a rescue can't wait
I won't tell you every rescue can be avoided.
Sometimes the deadline is real and only 1 person can save it.
Say what you're asking for, and take something off their list in the same breath.
Ask it as a favor with a price.
Say this "I'm asking you to fix something that isn't yours, and I know that. Tell me what to move off your list to make room." |
5/ Pay excellence in better work
Extra cleanup is NOT a reward, and I'd stop treating it like one.
Give your best person first pick of the next project that will stretch them.
What follows a win tells the whole team what a win is worth.
6/ Ask what they'd hand back
This is the question I'd bring to your next one-on-one.
In my experience, high performers rarely complain about the load.
They just leave.
You'll only hear about the weight if you ask before they've decided.
Ask this "What are you doing right now that shouldn't be yours?" |
7/ Give credit by name where it counts
When they do step in, I want you to say so OUT LOUD in front of the people who decide promotions.
Name who fixed it and what it saved.
Nobody gets promoted for a rescue that leadership never heard about.
The outcome
| Most people | You |
|---|---|
| Hand every fix to the fastest person | Send the fix back to whoever owns it |
| Call the extra work trust | Name the ask and take something off their list |
| Put off the hard talk with the person who missed | Have it before the next miss |
| Follow a win with more cleanup | Follow a win with work that stretches them |
| Thank them in private | Credit them by name in front of leadership |
Proof. I sat on the manager side of this as a COO, and the research matches what I saw. Duke researchers asked 125 students to delegate tasks, and the people described as more disciplined were handed more of them. In the same research, employees with more self-control reported feeling more burdened at work than their peers. Duke Fuqua
This week
I posted about this on LinkedIn from the high performer's side, and a lot of people told me they recognized themselves in it.
I wrote this issue for the manager's side. You decide who cleans up.
The managers I respect most send the fix back to its owner and save their best people for the work that grows them.
Try it the next time something breaks and 1 name comes to mind.
Your best person stops saying yes the day they hand in their notice.
Reply
I want to hear from you on this one. Is there 1 person on your team who fixes everyone else's work? Reply with yes or no. I read every one.
Until next time.
Justin Bateh, PhD
CEO @ AI Operators Lab
Founder & Editor, Tactical Memo