I’ve spent 25+ years watching race cars get built, tuned, and pushed to the limits of speed.
And one thing I can tell you with certainty is that even the most talented driver in the world cannot outrun drag.
In racing, aerodynamic drag is the invisible force that generally works against the car. It doesn’t care how skilled the driver is. It doesn’t care how powerful the engine is. Drag is relentless. And left unaddressed, it will cost you the race – every single time.
Here’s what most leaders don’t realize:
Performance Assumptions create the same kind of drag on their teams.
What Are Performance Assumptions?
Performance Assumptions are the stories we tell ourselves about what our team is already doing, already capable of, or alreadyaligned on – without ever verifying it. It’s also not having a shared language of expectations and preparation.
They sound like this:
- “They know what I expect.”
- “We’ve been through this before. They’ve got it.”
- “She’s been doing this a long time, she’ll figure it out.”
- “He knows what timely means to me.”
- “She knows why transparency matters in this moment.”
- “He always delivers. I don’t need to check in.”
None of these are facts. They’re assumptions. And every one of them that goes unchecked creates friction, misalignment, and drag on your team’s performance.
I could stop here because I believe you understand exactly what I’m getting at! (Or, is that an assumption on my part?).
The dangerous moment? You can’t always feel it happening.
The team looks busy. People seem engaged. Meetings happen. Reports go out. But underneath all of it, everyone is working from a slightly different understanding of what “good” actually looks like.
That’s not alignment. That’s drag.
Every unspoken expectation is drag. Every assumption about skill level that hasn’t been validated is drag. Every “they should already know this” conversation that never happened is drag.
The accumulation of these assumptions doesn’t just slow one person down. It creates team drag – a collective performance ceiling that no amount of individual talent can break through.
The best leaders I’ve been around in racing and in business understood this. They didn’t assume their team knew what they needed. They made it explicit. They made it measurable. They made it repeatable.
More importantly, leaders need to co-create Performance Alignment to remove Performance Assumptions!
Co-creating the shared language of agreed upon behaviors actually creates ownership and accountability.
ACTION STEP 1 – Start Here: Audit Your Assumptions
Pull out a piece of paper. Write down your top 3-5 direct reports or key team members.
Next to each name, answer this question honestly: “What am I assuming about their performance that I have never directly verified or discussed with them?”
If you can’t answer that with confidence – that’s drag.
This reflection takes less than 10 minutes and will tell you where you can create Alignment!
ACTION STEP 2 – The Drag Audit with Your Team
This week, bring your team together for what I call a Performance Drag Audit.Ask each person – individually or as a group – three questions:
- “What does exceptional performance look like in your role right now?”
- “What’s one thing you think I expect from you that has never been explicitly discussed?”
- “Where do you feel uncertain or unclear about what ‘winning’ looks like on our team?”
The answers may surprise you. And that surprise? That’s where your hidden speed is.Removing team drag is not about working harder. It’s about creating the clarity, alignment, and shared language that lets your talent actually perform at the level it was built for.
What performance assumption has been quietly creating drag on your team? I’d love to hear your honest answer – drop it in the comments below.
Mike Mooney
Helping leaders and teams close the performance gap.