Back to Brian
If this structure had previously been followed and executed accurately, do you think that Brian's performance and results would have carried on in the pattern that they had done? I would argue not, and there would have been some change in his behavior. Of course, it's not necessary to turn every employee into the next head of department, and sadly there will be times when a capability or performance management approach has to be taken. Now, you might also think that this seems like a large and elaborate structure to solve a specific problem, and I would agree with you. However, the advantage of operating this way is that it gives you a "catch-all" approach to successfully leading a team and delivering on your promises. It also gives you a springboard to deliver at least twelve high-quality feedback discussions every year by using the WIN model once per month. I know people who probably haven't had twelve high-quality feedback discussions in their whole career!