You, and your team, are probably compensating for something right now.
And it’s probably being read as commitment.
I’ve been dealing with sales transformations for 25 years. From fast-growing scale-ups to complex international sales organizations.
And I see this pattern repeat again and again.
At first glance, everyone is busy. Doing their best to hit the numbers set at the beginning of the year.
Then you start having a close look at the engine. You spend time with the people. You ask them to compare what they do with what they should be doing to help the business perform smoothly.
One statement comes back almost every time: high activity is the sign something needs to be fixed.
In a nutshell, everyone is compensating for someone else:
· Managers compensate for low-performing sales reps.
· Sales reps compensate for missing technical input.
· Finance compensates for limited pipeline visibility and predictability.
· Endless meetings compensate for weak communication.
· Micromanagement compensates for the absence of leadership.
· An addition of tactics compensates for a lack of strategy.
And the list can be longer, much longer.
Recognize yourself in one of these?
And the reasons are numerous, for instance when it comes to compensating for another department:
They go from “they will not do it, so better do it myself”, to “it’s quicker if I do it myself”.
It sounds like commitment.
It can even get you noticed for it. True story: “our sales rep knows the products even better than our presales engineers.”
As a result, it’s friction everywhere:
Compensation creates activity, not performance. It generates “heat”, potentially exhausting your teams.
It absorbs energy that should be invested in clarity, capability, and accountability.
When this becomes the norm, sales engines slow down and their performance is literally hindered.
And teams spend more time fixing symptoms than addressing root causes.
What are the Do’s?
🟢 Address performance gaps directly instead of buffering them
🟢 Build clear roles, ownership, and decision frameworks
🟢 Create visibility early so predictability doesn’t need fixing later
Don’ts
🔺 Normalize underperformance by over-supporting it
🔺 Replace leadership with control and reporting
🔺Confuse collaboration with an excess of meetings.
High-performing sales organizations don’t compensate.
They align, enable, and hold the right level of accountability.
The difference between activity and performance is rarely visible from the top. Until it is.
👉 Where are you compensating right now, and calling it commitment?
