I was talking with an MSP CEO last week—let’s call him “Every MSP CEO Ever.”

He had just hired a new service desk manager. This one, he told me, was different. This one was going to be successful. I asked, “Cool. What happened to the last ones?”

“They just couldn’t cut it,” he said. Right. Of course they couldn’t. So I asked the obvious follow-up: “Did you know within 90 days that they weren’t going to work out?”

He paused.

Then I asked another: “Has your business grown dramatically since then—like hockey-stick, Silicon Valley, rocket-to-Mars type growth?”

“No.”

Then guess what? It wasn’t them. It was you.

You Don’t Know What Good Looks Like

Look—I’ve been there. You hire someone. They seem sharp. You toss them into the chaos that is your MSP, and you hope they’ll swim. Then you’re surprised when they drown. Not because they weren’t trying. But because you never told them what “good” looks like.

And if you can’t define “good,” how the hell are they supposed to deliver it? Here’s what I figured out after bouncing this back and forth with Mr. Eternal Optimist CEO:

He didn’t know what “good” looked like. Not really. He just had a feeling. And in this industry, feelings get you failures, not results.

“I’m Not Good at Training People.”

You know what else he said? “I’m just not good at training people.” No kidding.

Neither is any other CEO. No one starts an MSP because they’re passionate about onboarding frameworks. You start an MSP because you’re good at solving problems and automating the chaos. But here’s the deal: If you suck at training (and let’s be real—you do), you need a hack that works.

Here’s mine.

The Bruce McCully One-Hour Training Program for People Who Report Directly to You

Step 1: Day One = 30-Minute Meeting

Set a meeting the moment they walk in the door. Sit them down and say:

“This is what good looks like in your position. These are the 3 metrics I’m measuring you on.”

For the service desk manager we were talking about, it was:

  • % of tickets per endpoint (goal: reduce)
  • Number of tickets open > 5 days (goal: reduce)
  • Revenue per W2 (goal: increase)

Then say: “Now, let’s talk about what it will take to get there.” Here’s where it gets fun.

Step 2: Flip the Work Back to Them

Say: “I want you to put together a plan for your first 30 days. You can talk to anyone here. Ask questions. Get help. I want to meet tomorrow to review your draft.”

Then—and this is critical—schedule the meeting before they leave your office. Just like a sales call. You always set the next step.

Step 3: Review and Iterate

In the next meeting, they present the plan. You give feedback. Then tell them: “I want you to revise this and give me a new version by the end of the day.”

Why? Because you’re not assigning homework—you’re creating ownership. They own the results. They own the plan. You’re just the editor, not the author.

Step 4: Lock in the 30-Day Goal

Once the plan is solid, you both agree on a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). Then—again—schedule your 30-day check-in meeting before they leave.

Now you’ve got alignment. You’ve got accountability. You’ve got clarity.

And here’s the best part: you didn’t have to build a training program. They did.

Final Thought

Look—your team isn’t failing because they’re lazy or incompetent. They’re failing because you never told them what success looked like. Then you were surprised when they didn’t magically guess it.

You don’t need a training department. You need a framework that puts the work where it belongs: on your team.

If you’ve got someone new (or someone struggling), try this. You’ll spend less time fixing what’s broken and more time growing what’s working.

And that’s what leadership is about—not doing the job, but building system that creates the trained people who can.