Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

April 14, 2026

Welcome to the Workplace Multiplier newsletter. Published Monday to Friday, equipping you to achieve your professional goals faster and without burnout or overwhelm.

Before you promote anyone, ask this

Howdy ,

Yesterday I told you about a hiring conversation that came down to one distinction: capability versus capacity.

Capability you can train. Capacity you cannot manufacture on demand.

But that raises the practical question…how do you actually assess capacity before making the call?

Here is the test I use.

Ask: does this person already think at the level the role requires?

Not "can they learn to"…that is a capability question. But right now, today, when they walk into a room, do they hold the complexity, exercise the judgment, and operate with the range the role demands?

If the honest answer is no, training becomes an expensive detour. You are not accelerating development. You are delaying a decision.

But there is a second variable most leaders miss entirely.

The season your business is in changes everything.

If your organisation is in a cruising season…executing a proven model, consolidating gains, stabilizing…an internal hire with room to grow can be exactly right. You invest in that person, give them time, and the business absorbs the growth curve.

But if your organisation is in an expansion season…pushing into new markets, scaling aggressively, operating beyond its current boundaries…people decisions must serve that ambition directly.

The cost of a capacity mismatch is not just underperformance. It is lost momentum, compounding delay, and eventually making the harder call anyway…just later and at greater cost.

I recommended the external hire.

Not to dismiss the internal candidate. But because the organisation was not in a season where it could afford to wait for someone to grow into the role.

The ambition set the terms. The decision had to serve it.

Too many people decisions are made around comfort, loyalty, or hope.

The best ones are made in service of where the business is actually trying to go.

One question worth sitting with:

What season is your organisation in right now…and are your people decisions actually calibrated to it?

Keep winning at work and in life

Tola Akinsulire

Your Strategic Workplace Mentor

P.S. If this is a decision you're currently navigating, reply and tell me about it. Sometimes one conversation reframes everything.