Episode Overview

Episode Title: Why Your Team Isn’t Winning
Podcast: Business School with Sharran Srivatsaa
Host: Sharran Srivatsaa
Date: February 10, 2026

In this highly tactical episode, Sharran Srivatsaa addresses the pressing challenge facing leaders and operators: why your team is underperforming and the single, practical communication tactic that can unlock your team’s full potential. Rooted in real-world business experience and backed by data and sports analogies, Sharran delivers a concise playbook to drive clarity, accountability, and performance across any organization.

Main Theme

Sharran zeroes in on the importance of clear, behavior-based expectations as the keystone of high-performing teams. He argues that vague directives ("be more visible", "take initiative") fail to produce results, demotivating team members and eroding trust. The solution: a simple three-step framework for giving feedback that is specific, actionable, and tied to individual goals.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Clarity Gap in Team Performance

(00:23)

• Most leaders assume their teams know what’s expected of them, but in reality, there's a massive clarity gap.
• Referenced a Gallup poll: Only 50% of employees strongly agree they know what's expected at work.

“One out of two employees in the world right now… don't know exactly what is expected of them. Like, how crazy is this?”
— Sharran Srivatsaa (04:30)

• Vague feedback like "be more visible" or "take more ownership" leads nowhere unless tied to observable behavior.

2. The Belichick Example: "Do Your Job"

(01:21 & 02:10)

• Cites Bill Belichick’s legacy with the New England Patriots. Their “Do Your Job” mantra wasn't just a slogan, but a systematic breakdown of every player’s responsibilities in every scenario.
• Great leaders consistently show their team exactly how to win.

“The 'do your job' wasn’t just a motto. It was a system... a very clear when-then, behavior-based approach.”
— Sharran Srivatsaa (02:25)

3. The Losing Formula: Vague Feedback

• Leaders often give feedback with ambiguous terms:
  • “Be more visible”
  • “Have some competitive greatness”
• Without translation into concrete actions, both managers and employees are left guessing.
• When people aren’t clear, they try lots of things, get frustrated, and lose confidence.

4. The Winning Formula: Three-Step Feedback Framework

(08:03)

• Step 1: Tie feedback to their personal goal
• Step 2: Give specific, observable behaviors
• Step 3: Explain the “why” behind each behavior

Practical Example (09:40):

• Instead of saying “be more visible,” connect it to a personal aspiration:
  • “Hey Jimmy, I know you want to become the CFO. Here are three things that’ll help you:
    1. Post your weekly insights on Slack (in a five-bullet format, applicable to the whole company)
    2. On client calls, take control by introducing team members and highlighting their strengths
    3. Write summaries that spotlight team wins”

“Now I’m not saying, ‘do this because it’s my way’—I’m saying, ‘do this because it’ll help you hit your goals.’ You want to do everything in service of the person.”
— Sharran Srivatsaa (09:09)

• When employees know exactly what winning looks like, confidence and results soar.

5. Building a Culture of Clarity and Coaching

(13:58)

• Clarity in coaching not only improves performance, but future leaders model and propagate this method.
• Example: When Jimmy becomes VP of Finance, he gives his team feedback in the same structured way.
• Codifying this practice creates “culture-carriers”: top performers who spread best practices.

“When I see a meeting run differently, or a shoutout on Slack done right, I think, ‘Listen, that was really good. How do I model that?’”
— Sharran Srivatsaa (15:51)

6. Why Vague Expectations Kill Teams

(16:30)

• Vague, un-actionable expectations are not (just) the team member’s fault—but are definitely the leader’s problem to solve.
• Encouraged leaders to consistently use the framework to remove frustration and ambiguity from their teams.

“I really, really believe that great leaders define winning in terms that people can act on. If they don’t understand what to do, they don’t know what winning means.”
— Sharran Srivatsaa (16:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On tying feedback to personal aspirations:

  “You want to do everything in service of the person. Because if you don’t do it in service of the person, why are you doing it anyway?”
  — Sharran Srivatsaa (09:09)

• On leadership:

  “Leadership is caught, not taught… The big idea is when you coach someone clearly, you’re not just helping them perform, you’re giving them a chance to coach others.”
  — Sharran Srivatsaa (13:58)

• On behavior-based expectations:

  “If you give them the behavior, you don’t even have to check back. They know that if they don’t do the thing, they didn’t do the thing.”
  — Sharran Srivatsaa (06:08)

• On the cultural ripple effect:

  “What happens is you have all these top performers as culture-carriers because now things are translated the right way in the organization.”
  — Sharran Srivatsaa (15:18)

Actionable Takeaways

The Winning Conversation Framework:

• Pick a team member.
• 1. Tie feedback to their personal goals.
• 2. Give three specific behaviors they can do.
• 3. Clearly explain why each behavior helps them win.
• Repeat this process in writing or verbally, and encourage all managers to use the same playbook.

When feedback is:

• Specific
• Behavior-based
• Linked to the employee’s goals
  …it becomes easy to give, easy to receive, and leads to lasting performance and happy teams.

Key Segment Timestamps

• Clarity Gap & Gallup Poll Discussion: 04:00 – 05:15
• Bill Belichick “Do Your Job” System: 01:21 – 03:18
• Framework Introduction and Example: 08:00 – 12:20
• Leadership Modeling and Cultural Ripple Effect: 13:58 – 15:58
• Recap and Final Takeaways: 16:30 – end

Summary

Sharran’s message in this episode is clear: Teams fail not from lack of effort or talent, but from unclear expectations. By grounding feedback in personal goals, specifying observable behaviors, and explaining the “why,” leaders empower their teams to win and build a culture where clarity and coaching are the norm. Implement this simple framework, and watch your team’s performance—and morale—transform.