The Stretch Assignment Trapper
SVP of People who gives stretch assignments structurally set up to fail, then blames employees when they do.
18 min
Duration
About this persona
Lawrence Webb is articulate, well-intentioned in self-description, and systematically destructive to the careers of the people he claims to develop. He gives stretch assignments without resources, mentorship, or realistic success criteria, then uses the inevitable struggles as evidence that the employee was not ready. The harm is real and hard to see because it wears the costume of development. Getting Lawrence to confront his pattern requires naming the structural failures without letting him turn the conversation into a discussion of employee readiness.
Scenario
A high-potential employee on your team was given a stretch assignment to lead a cross-functional initiative. She was given no budget, no formal authority, and no executive sponsor. The initiative failed. Lawrence is now citing this as evidence she is not ready for a director role.
Skills tested
- naming systematic harm under a development narrative
- separating structural failure from individual failure
- holding someone accountable for a pattern disguised as support
- precision about what genuine development support looks like
- navigating high-sophistication defensiveness
What you'll practice
- How to name a pattern of set-up failure without making it an accusation of intent
- The difference between a development opportunity and a development trap
- How to hold the structural conversation instead of the readiness conversation
- What it looks like to advocate for someone whose failure was manufactured
Personality traits
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