Enhance Business Success by Building A Deep Bench

Cathie Leimbach • June 27, 2023

People often talk about the merits of sports teams having deep benches. Ensuring the teams’ players have a breadth and depth of skills is seen as preparing for a successful sports season, but many businesses aren’t following suit. Let’s consider how workplace managers could benefit from adopting some common practices of sports team coaches.


Sports coaches build deep benches by recruiting talented individuals, focusing on further development of their abilities, fostering a winning attitude, and instilling accountability. They prioritize enhancing individual skills and strategically rotating players to determine their best-fit position. Open communication and constructive feedback are emphasized, creating a collaborative environment where athletes feel valued and motivated. Coaches also encourage teamwork and learning from one another, promoting healthy competition and pushing everyone to excel.


When business leaders and managers follow suit, their organizations tend to flourish.  They hire people with potential and provide training and coaching to prepare them for success. They give them a variety of opportunities and monitor their performance to determine the best fit position for each position within the company. As a result, employees feel supported and are positioned to be successful, increasing employee loyalty and the company’s bottom line. 


When managers invest in developing people around them, they are ensuring operational continuity by having employees prepared to address unexpected challenges or promptly fill a vacant position. This mitigates the risk of spikes in workload or long vacancies in key positions. Development of a deep bench also fosters a culture of growth and development. People are equipped to be flexible, adaptable, and resilient allowing the company to quickly respond to market changes and seize emerging opportunities.


What is one thing you can do to build a deeper bench that will enhance your organization’s  success in our ever-changing business environment?

Accountability Without Drama

By Cathie Leimbach • March 3, 2026
Accountability doesn’t have to feel tense or awkward. When done well, it’s calm, clear, and supportive. Most leaders avoid it because they don’t want conflict. But avoiding it creates something worse — inconsistency, frustration, and missed results. Strong accountability is simple: What was expected? What actually happened? What needs to happen next? When leaders address issues early and clearly, drama fades. People know where they stand. Follow through improves. Common mistakes: Waiting too long B Being inconsistent Attacking the person’s character These patterns can change. With the right habits, accountability becomes predictable instead of stressful — and work gets better fast. 👉Download our Accountability Without Drama Checklist to practice these conversations with confidence. 

Communication Gaps

By Cathie Leimbach • February 24, 2026
Most communication problems don’t happen because people aren’t listening. They happen because leaders assume clarity instead of checking for it. “I think they get it” isn’t the same as “they really do.” When people don’t clearly understand what’s expected of them, they make their own assumptions to fill in the gaps. That’s when rework, missed deadlines, and frustration show up. Strong leaders ask better questions: What do you see as the top priority? What does success look like to you? What could get in the way? These don’t slow work down — they prevent costly resets later. Try a simple weekly habit: Think about one key conversation. What did I mean? What did they hear? Where was the gap? Small awareness leads to big gains. 👉 You’re invited to a Leadership Conversation with other leaders to discuss common leadership gaps and how they quietly influence results.