A recent incident in my company reminded of a really important maxim for effectively managing people; be hard on the problem, not on the person. If you have the right people getting hard on the problem it can help drive the desired behaviour that you want and need.

But getting hard on the people can be demoralising and in fact drive behaviours you don’t want.

Getting hard on the person, making it personal, can feel like an attack, and no one likes that.

Getting hard on the problem, while showing you believe in the person, allows the person to step up and be great.