I do a bunch of consulting and coaching work in organizations and with leaders and I found some data not too long ago, because I can be a data geek. The data was really pretty remarkable.

Someone had done some research and found out that 90%, so that's 9 out of 10 people problems weren't people problems - they were fit problems. Okay, so what's the difference here? Well, see, you can take a person, and you can put them in a place where they're just not going to do well. And it turns out that that's 90% of the problems in the workplace.

We put people in places where they can't thrive, they can't do well, it's not the person. That's the problem.

I was walking through my neighborhood recently, and I saw a perfect example of this. In North Georgia, someone had planted a cactus garden in their front yard. Yes, cactus. Clearly, they put in a whole different substrate and soil and you're like cactus were they weren't they were doing okay. But I know, cactus from when I lived in the desert Southwest. These cactus were not thriving. So here's the deal: if you take those exact same cacti, and move them to an appropriate climate, they would blossom and thrive. We adapted the situation here in Georgia, we can adapt. But in the end, what’s our best solution?

First, we need to find the right soil for each of us to be planted in. Secondly, if that data holds to be true, all those times that we're criticizing the person, we need to let go with that judgment. Because there's a 90% probability that the issue isn't with the person. It's got something to do with the fit and the circumstances.

A whole lot of grace and a whole lot of flexibility is needed in this.