In the Army, we were taught a principle that has stayed with me across everything that followed.
When battles are underway on multiple fronts and you have reserves to deploy, the instinct is to send reinforcements where your troops are struggling. Shore up the weakness. Plug the gap.
We were taught the opposite.
Never reinforce a failure. Deploy where there is momentum.
I've thought about that principle many times since — in corporate life, and now in coaching.
I once worked with a colleague who was putting in real effort in a technical role. Hardworking, committed. But somehow never quite visible. Never quite confident. The results were there, but only just.
At some point, he moved into a performance management role — closer to people, closer to conversations, closer to what he was actually built for.
The change was striking. He became more visible, more assured, more capable of handling pressure. Not because he worked harder. Because he was finally on the right ground.
I've seen this pattern many times — in corporate life, in coaching conversations, and in my own career. A capable, hardworking person, putting in real effort, but somehow in the wrong role, on the wrong ground. The results never quite matching the effort. The confidence never quite arriving.
We spend a lot of time — in organisations and in ourselves — trying to fix what isn't working. Reinforcing the failure.
Sometimes the more useful question is: what is already working, even if no one is paying attention to it?
This isn't about walking away from difficulty or chasing the next role. It's about understanding yourself well enough to know what ground you're built for — and finding ways to stand on more of it, wherever you are.
Find your strength. The rest follows.
Where are you sending your reserves?
It's a question worth sitting with honestly. The answer often points somewhere more useful than the problem you've been trying to fix.
If you've been working hard but suspect your efforts are going to the wrong place — that you're capable of more, but something isn't quite clicking — that might be worth exploring.
If you're still sending your reserves to the wrong front, it might be time to talk.