The Harsh Reality

Let’s get brutally honest: complaining is often a default reaction for business owners and leaders when things go south.

I’ve been there myself. When performance slips or a team member falls short, the first instinct is to point the finger.

But here’s the hard truth: the very team you're frustrated with, the one you claim "just doesn't get it," is the team you hired.

The team you onboarded.

The team you have been leading (or not leading).

So ask yourself:

• Did I hire the wrong person?
• Have I kept someone in a role too long without accountability?
• Or, more importantly, have I actually provided the proper training and direction they need to thrive?

Studies show nearly 70% of salespeople lack formal training, and roughly one-third of companies offer no training at all.

That’s a massive disconnect between expectations and enablement, and it's one of the main reasons teams underperform and turnover stays high.

Bottom line: if you’re not willing to train, you don’t get to complain.

Complaining Doesn’t Fix Skill Gaps

Sure, venting can feel good in the moment. It’s a release. But it doesn’t move your business forward. It doesn't build skill. It doesn't inspire action. It just keeps you—and your team, stuck.

Every time you complain without offering a solution, you reinforce poor leadership behavior.

And yes, I said leadership, because that’s what this is.

Ask yourself:

• Have I clearly communicated what I expect?
• Have I provided the tools, resources, and support they need?
• Am I just blaming them for my lack of leadership?

Because if they don’t know what good looks like, it’s on you, not them.

Training is Your Job, Not HR’s

Too many business owners and department heads push off responsibility for training. “That’s HR’s job.” “We’re too small for formal training.” “They should already know how to do it.”

No. If you recognize a gap, you must fill it. If a process isn’t working, you need to fix it.

Leadership isn't about delegation, it’s about ownership.

Your team will mirror what they see.

If you hustle, they’ll hustle.

If you avoid accountability and growth, so will they.

If you’re tolerating mediocrity, don’t be surprised when it becomes the standard.

You Get What You Tolerate

Every time you ignore a missed expectation, you endorse it. Every time you let subpar performance slide, you normalize it.

And over time, those small tolerances become culture.

Not the culture you wrote on your company values slide deck, but the real one people live and breathe every day.

So take a hard look at your current frustrations.

The missed calls.

The lack of follow-up.

The weak closes.

Could it be the direct result of what you’ve been tolerating?

It’s time to:

• Reset standards
• Communicate expectations clearly
• Back it all up with daily, intentional training and accountability

Don't wait for quarterly reviews to course-correct.

By then, the damage is already done.

Great Teams Are Built, Not Bought

The longer I’ve been in business, the more I’ve realized that great teams aren’t discovered, they’re developed.

Talent helps, sure.

But systems win.

The highest-performing teams are coached, not just employed.

Foundational training strategies should include:

• Shadowing top performers to model real results
• Live coaching during calls or client interactions
• Skill sprints that sharpen one area at a time
• Ongoing micro-training, not just a one-and-done session

Training isn’t an event.

It’s a culture.

And great leaders create that culture, every day.

Measure What You Teach

You can’t improve what you don’t track.

One of the most overlooked aspects of training is measurement.

If you're not tying your training efforts to key metrics, how do you even know if it’s working?

Metrics to align with training efforts:

• Call-to-meeting conversion rate
• Deal size trends post-training
• Close rate changes after coaching cycles
• Pipeline health and follow-up efficiency
• Contacts per opportunity

Make improvement visible.

Celebrate wins.

Reinforce progress.

Build momentum.

Excuses Are Easy, Training is Work

How many times have you said, “No one wants to work anymore,” or “They’re just not motivated”? I’ve said it too.

But the truth is, it's a cop-out. It’s easier to blame people than to build systems.

If you're serious about scaling your business, you need repeatable processes that equip every position—sales, ops, marketing, admin—to succeed.

That means:

• Creating step-by-step playbooks
• Standardizing onboarding and coaching
• Leading by example in both behavior and execution

The only way to build a sustainable business is to train your people, then keep training them.

Slam Dunk: Train Them or Fire Yourself

At the end of the day, you’ve got two choices:

Train your people. Or fire yourself as their leader.

Because leaders who don’t develop their teams aren’t leaders at all.

They’re bottlenecks.

And bottlenecks kill businesses.

Want to stop the cycle of frustration?

Want to stop putting out fires every day?

Want to scale your operation with confidence?

Then stop complaining, and start training.

SML