The 80% Rule of Leadership Problems: Why the Same Issues Keep Showing Up
Most organisations don’t have lots of leadership problems.
They have a small number of problems that repeat over and over again, just in slightly different forms.
Missed deadlines.
Escalations that shouldn’t need escalating.
The same interpersonal tensions bubbling up.
Leaders doing the work instead of leading.
Teams waiting for direction instead of taking ownership.
These issues feel separate. They’re often managed case by case.
But when you zoom out, something becomes clear:
Most leadership friction is recurring.
Organisations usually take a band-aid approach (without actually realising it), so the issue continues to linger.
When the same issues keep resurfacing, HR and senior supervisors often step in to stabilise things:
Smoothing over conflict
Clarifying expectations after the fact
Reassigning work to “get things back on track”
Coaching leaders informally, again and again
Nothing fundamentally changes. The problem just reappears next week, next month, or in the next team.
Introducing the 2-Part Issue Resolution Method That Resolves Issues Properly
When the same challenges repeat, it’s rarely because leaders don’t care or aren’t trying.
More often, it’s because of how issues are addressed in the first place, and this stems from the skill level of your frontline leaders, who are often winging it.
What Most Organisations Do (And Why It Doesn’t Work)
In most organisations, when an issue occurs, the leader receives clarity that usually looks like this:
“Don’t handle it that way, do this instead.”
“Moving forward, let’s avoid this from happening.”
“We’ve created a new process to follow so this doesn’t happen again.”
The leader is told what to do differently.
At that point, the issue is considered “resolved.”
But clarity alone doesn’t create lasting change.
It simply sets a new instruction.
Without deeper development, the leader now knows what not to do but not necessarily how to do it well, consistently, or in different situations.
This is why the same or similar issue arises again.
Here’s What Organisations Miss When Solving Issues
Telling a leader what they should do is not the same as building the capability to do it.
The leader may understand the instruction:
“This is how I’m supposed to handle it.”
But without skill, they don’t know how to:
Adapt it when the situation looks different
Apply it under pressure
Adjust their approach with different personalities
Hold the line while maintaining trust
They may follow the instructions they’ve been given.
They may try to model what they’ve seen others do.
They may get through the next situation, and then default back to what they know when pressure hits.
Instructions only work for the exact situation they were given for.
Leadership requires adaptability.
And adaptability only comes from skill, experience and practice, not direction.
If those skills haven’t been developed, the leader is left to figure it out along the way.
Activity: Applying the Issue Resolution Method to Your Organisation
Step 1: Identify the Recurring Patterns
Over the next week, fortnight, or month, track leadership-related issues that surface.
Not performance metrics but day-to-day friction or bottle necks.
Write them down as they occur.
You’ll likely see repeats such as:
Work not being completed as expected,
Team members escalating issues instead of resolving them,
Confusion around priorities,
Avoidance of difficult conversations,
Leaders feeling overwhelmed, reactive, or constantly “in the weeds”.
Now highlight what shows up more than once.
That short list?
That’s where 80% of leadership challenges usually sit.
Step 2: Reverse Engineer the Issues
Instead of asking:
“Why does this keep happening?”
Ask:
“What skill would need to exist for this problem to stop recurring?”
This is the shift from managing symptoms to developing capability and creating ongoing change.
Want a free Leadership Skills Audit?
This is the method that resolves recurring issues long-term rather than taking a bandaid approach.
If you’d like support identifying the recurring issues in your organisation, book a free 30-minute Leadership Skills Audit call here.
Alternatively, if you’ve already identified your issues and would like to explore leadership development to build your leaders’ capabilities, send me an email or book a call here.
Let’s make 2026 the year you change your approach and truly eliminate those recurring issues that pop up again and again.
You will thank yourself for it.