Reverse Leverage: How Underperformers (and Superstars) Quietly Sabotage Women-Owned Businesses
What if the team you worked so hard to build is quietly draining your energy, your profit, and your power—while you’re too busy putting out fires to see it? In this episode of QueenMode, Dr. Ana Castilla breaks down reverse leverage and how underperforming employees and superstar team members can accidentally keep women entrepreneurs stuck, exhausted, and over-responsible for everything.
Whether you’re a solo founder with a VA, or you’re leading a growing team, Ana shows you how to spot silent underperformance, Key Person Dependency, and the hidden ways your business starts revolving around the wrong people. You’ll learn how to protect your culture, your standards, and your bottom line—without becoming a cold, “corporate” boss.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- What reverse leverage is and why it quietly sabotages women-owned businesses
- The sneaky signs of an underperforming employee (even the charming, “everyone loves her” one)
- How Key Person Dependency puts your operations and revenue at risk
- A simple 5-Minute Team Audit to quickly diagnose underperformance and dependency
- How to give honest feedback without being “mean,” and when it’s time to let someone go
- Practical ways to document systems, cross-train your team, and build a business that doesn’t fall apart if one person calls in sick
This episode is for you if you’re tired of carrying the whole business on your back, you want to lead like a CEO (not a firefighter), and you’re ready to build a team and culture that actually sets you free.
🎧 Listen now and start taking back control of your time, your team, and your power.
If this episode spoke to you, follow/subscribe to QueenMode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube Music, and leave a review so more powerhouse women can find the show.
📲 Connect with Ana:
Website: dranacastilla.com
Instagram: @queenmodepodcast | @dranacastilla
Transcript
Don't Get Reverse Leveraged if the team you worked so hard to build is quietly draining
your energy, your profit and your power, while you're too busy putting out fires to even
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:see it?
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:If you've ever felt like you're paying a full team but still carrying the business on your
back, this episode is for you.
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:And by the way, if it's just you and a VA or you and one contractor right now, I'm still
talking to you.
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:Because how you think about leverage and standards today is exactly what will shape the
kind of team you build later.
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:This episode is your future, your insurance policy.
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:What's up Queen?
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:I'm Dr.
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:Ana Castilla, orthodontist, author, speaker, unapologetic dream chaser, and yes, I took my
business from flatlining to an eight figure exit in just eight years.
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:But spoiler alert, I didn't get there by playing it safe.
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:I broke rules, I made bold moves, and I became the woman my younger self was waiting for.
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:Queen Mode is your weekly dose of fierce strategy, unfiltered truth, and mindset shifts
that will have you leading, growing, and living like the powerhouse you are without
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:burning out or selling out.
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:So if you're done playing small,
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:and ready to rise, welcome home.
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:In finance, reverse leverage happens when the cost of borrowing money is higher than the
return that money generates.
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:Now you might be thinking, okay, Ana, I thought this episode was about my team, not
interest rates.
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:Stay with me.
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:You don't just hire a team because that's what businesses do.
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:You hire a team for leverage, to multiply your time.
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:to free you from the day-to-day, to help you scale.
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:But that only works if you can actually leverage them.
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:Your empire is going to grow when you have the very best people on the boat and two things
are happening at the same time.
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:Everyone on the boat is rowing in the same direction and everyone is pulling their own
weight.
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:When that's not happening,
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:Queen, you've got reverse leverage.
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:Why?
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:Because you're paying for people to sit in your boat, but your boat is either not headed
in one clear direction, or worse, it stops moving altogether because the one person who
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:actually pulls their weight called in sick today.
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:Either way, the cost of your team in these types of situations becomes higher than the
return on your investment.
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:Before I break down all the ways this shows up in your business, I want to take you back
to a moment from when I was a teenage girl.
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:When I was 14, I spent a summer with one of my aunts in Ecuador, where my family is from.
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:I always looked up to her, so I watched everything she did.
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:Let's just say she was in a much better financial position than my immediate family.
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:So she had a housekeeper, a cook, a groundskeeper, the whole thing.
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:One day I noticed she was in the kitchen, hard at work cooking.
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:I was surprised to see her do this because she had a cook.
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:So I went up to her and asked her, why are you cooking if you have a cook?
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:Her response was epic.
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:She said, which roughly translates to, you need to know in order to give orders.
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:I was too young to fully get it.
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:So I asked her to explain.
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:And then she said, how do I know if my cook is doing a good job if I don't know what a
good job looks like?
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:That mic drop moment has stayed with me my entire career.
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:And as a grown woman, I understand it this way.
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:You have to know the work in order to lead it.
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:This isn't about being bossy or cold.
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:It's about having a clear picture of excellence so you can protect your standards, your
customers, and your team.
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:Because here's the truth.
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:As the leader of your business, there are two main ways you lose control of your team and
your company.
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:Number one, you're afraid to fire an underperforming employee.
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:And number two, you become dependent on a single high performing individual.
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:And both of them lead straight to reverse leverage.
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:Let's start with the under performer because this is one we tolerate the longest and
justify the hardest.
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:The sneaky part, sometimes you don't even realize they're underperforming.
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:Why?
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:A few reasons.
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:I'm gonna break it down.
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:Reason number one, you have no clear expectations or metrics.
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:If job success isn't clearly defined, you can't accurately measure an employee's output.
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:You're going off of vibes and state of data.
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:Reason number two, they're great at one part of their job and ignoring the rest.
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:Their visible strengths overshadow their failures.
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:Maybe it's the employee who calls out all the time, but when they're in the office,
they're the superstar that saves the day.
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:Or the salesperson who can close anyone in person, but never sends the follow-up emails
that are also part of her role.
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:Or maybe for you, it's a VA who crushes content creation.
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:but never updates the CRM.
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:Or a contractor who delivers brilliant work but always turns it in late.
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:Reason number three, the team buffer effect.
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:Other competent team members quietly pick up the slack.
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:The work gets done, but not by the person being paid to do it, which hides the
underperformance.
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:Reason number four, the lovable under performer.
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:This is the charming employee you totally be friends with in real life.
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:She's funny, kind, and everyone loves her, including you.
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:You're so busy enjoying her personality that you don't see she's secretly playing on the
B-team.
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:Number five, quiet quitting.
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:Now we've all heard of this.
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:They're doing the bare minimum required on paper.
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:They're checking boxes, but not driving results.
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:And without clear metrics for what success looks like, it's hard to prove they're
underperforming, even though you feel it.
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:But here's the bottom line.
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:You have to identify it.
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:You already know an underperforming employee is costing you money.
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:But they're also dragging down morale, forcing your best people to carry extra weight,
lowering the overall standard of what good looks like in your business.
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:One underperformer creates a ripple effect you cannot afford.
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:Here's one thing that took me a minute to figure out.
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:Your business isn't just at risk from underperformers.
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:Sometimes it's at risk because of your best people.
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:And this, fellow queens, is called key person dependency.
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:Key person dependency is when your business depends too heavily on a single employee or a
tiny group of them.
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:whose absence would seriously disrupt your operations, productivity, or even your revenue.
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:Now sometimes, yes, you as the founder are the key person, but that's a whole separate
episode.
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:And if you're listening and realizing that you are the one everything depends on right
now, don't spiral.
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:I've been there.
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:I'm going to do a full episode on founder dependency.
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:But for today, I want you to hear this.
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:You are not behind.
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:You're just early in your leverage journey.
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:Your only job right now is to start shifting one process at a time out of your head and
into your systems and your team.
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:Today, I'm talking about when you are over relying on an employee for critical knowledge,
skills, or decision making.
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:If this superstar calls in sick, you have a bad day.
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:If they quit your operation,
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:or your revenue tanks.
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:Here are a few signs your business has key person dependency.
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:Work slows down or stops when that person is unavailable.
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:Everyone else constantly interrupts them for approvals or help.
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:Or important decisions get delayed because only they have the authority or knowledge.
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:And critical information and procedures live only in this person's head.
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:So, how does this happen?
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:Well, a few ways.
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:Number one,
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:centralization of critical knowledge.
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:This often happens during fast growth.
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:When your business is small, a few people, usually you and your OG team, know everything.
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:Then as you grow, you hire fast to keep up with demand.
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:You don't have time to properly train or document, so the original crew becomes the keeper
of all the how we do things around here.
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:The new people are just trying to survive.
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:Number two, unique or special skills.
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:Sometimes an employee truly has niche skills you don't have.
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:But other times, you just perceive yourself as not having them and hand over your power.
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:I see this all the time with sales.
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:So many entrepreneurs tell themselves, I'm not good at sales and then become completely
dependent on the one amazing salesperson.
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:But side note,
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:you can learn to sell or at least learn to teach someone else how to do it.
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:Simply start by being in love with your customer instead of your product.
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:Number three, overly complex systems.
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:If your systems are overly complex, it becomes very hard to cross-train.
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:The more complexity there is, the fewer people will feel confident stepping into that role
temporarily.
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:That creates a situation where one person becomes the default hero and a single point of
failure.
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:So how do you take back control so everyone is rowing in the same direction and carrying
their own weight?
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:Let's break it down.
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:Step one, own your part as the leader.
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:If you have underperforming employees, the first place I want you to look is in the
mirror.
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:Did you fail to train them properly?
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:Have you clearly communicated expectations and what success looks like?
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:If the answer is no,
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:That's actually good news.
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:It means this might be an easy fix.
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:You should never hire someone without a written job description that they sign and agree
to.
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:Ask me how I know.
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:Every time I skip this step, it blew up in my face.
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:job description needs to lay out the actual responsibilities of the role and include clear
KPIs or metrics that define success.
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:Otherwise, they can quietly underperform, check off their daily tasks, and still not move
the needle.
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:Going through a checklist is not the same as performing.
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:Step two.
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:Tell the truth about performance.
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:If you've given them training, the tools, and the clarity, the next step is honest
feedback.
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:You'd be surprised how often this alone wakes someone up.
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:Some people genuinely believe they're doing a great job because no one has told them
otherwise.
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:So eliminate the fog.
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:Let them know where they're falling short.
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:Be specific.
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:Don't beat them up.
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:Coach them.
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:If you need words, here's a line you can borrow.
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:I want you to win here, and right now you're not meeting the standard.
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:But I know you can get there.
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:Let's get really clear on what success looks like over the next 30 days, and then we'll
check back in together.
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:Pretty simple, right?
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:Step number three, be willing to let them go.
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:if you've trained, coached, clarified expectations, and still see no meaningful
improvement, or they're not taking your feedback seriously, or they're bringing a negative
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:attitude that poisons your culture, it may be time to let them go.
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:And I want to be clear.
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:I am never telling you to fire quickly just to avoid discomfort.
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:I am pro-growth and pro-human.
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:You lead clearly, you coach generously, and then you make the hard call when someone
repeatedly chooses not to rise with you.
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:Is it hard?
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:Absolutely.
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:Seriously, it's the worst.
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:And I get it.
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:You don't like confrontation.
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:You feel guilty.
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:You're hoping they'll suddenly improve.
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:You've invested so much time into training them and you don't want to be the bad guy.
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:I have had all those feelings, but here's the truth.
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:You cannot keep a team member who can't or refuses to perform.
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:And yes, I know someone's thinking, Ana is hard enough to hire right now.
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:I can't just let people go.
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:I hear you.
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:This isn't about blowing up your team overnight.
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:You can plan a transition, cross train before you make a move, and even start quietly
building a hiring pipeline so you're not making decisions from panic.
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:It's about refusing to let fear of short-term discomfort trap you into long-term
dysfunction.
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:But know this, underperformers create a negative atmosphere.
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:They burn out your top performers who are constantly picking up the slack.
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:They signal to the entire team that mediocrity is acceptable.
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:It's also just plain unfair to your high achievers.
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:Your best people are often the first to leave when they feel they're not surrounded by
other high performers.
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:Firing underperformers is not about being mean.
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:It's about protecting your culture, your standards, and your future.
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:And let's talk about your brand.
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:Underperformance leads to mistakes, missed deadlines, and poor customer service.
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:That doesn't just hurt your ego, it hurts your reputation.
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:Finally, there's the bottom line.
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:An under performer prevents your business from operating at full capacity.
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:That means lower revenue and slower growth.
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:Your business cannot afford that, especially now when you're building something big.
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:Step number four, fix key person dependency with operations.
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:If your main issue is key person dependency, it's time to look at your operations.
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:First rule, codify, codify, codify.
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:You need a playbook, an SOP for everything, and you need to update it as soon as your
processes change.
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:Key processes.
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:and procedures cannot live in one person's head.
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:That is not strategy, that is risk.
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:Next, cross-train your team.
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:Make sure essential skills and knowledge are shared.
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:And pair training with job rotations whenever you can.
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:You will never be able to prepare for everything, but you can absolutely prepare for the
temporary or permanent loss of a key team member.
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:So I want to tell you a story.
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:I follow a lot of orthodontic groups on Facebook.
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:A couple of years ago, an orthodontist posted that his treatment coordinator, which is the
salesperson in an ortho office, called in sick.
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:In his post, he stated that he had to reschedule an entire day of new patient
consultations.
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:He was frustrated and clearly annoyed that his treatment coordinator called out.
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:And I remember thinking,
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:Where on earth was your office manager?
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:Where was your financial coordinator?
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:Are you telling me that you inconvenienced all those new patients and rescheduled them
because no one else in your office knows how to present fees?
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:That is key person dependency in action.
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:Finally, consider outsourcing certain tasks to third party experts with specialized
knowledge.
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:This can reduce internal dependency and free your core team to focus on what truly moves
the needle.
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:And now I want to leave you with a little bonus.
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:Here is my Queen Mode 5-Minute Team Audit.
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:If you want a simple way to apply this episode, here are a few questions you can sit with
this week.
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:You can journal on them or literally walk through them while you're looking at your org
chart, your calendar, or your project management board.
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:Number one, who on my team would I enthusiastically rehire today?
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:Number two, who am I quietly avoiding a hard conversation with?
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:Number three, where is one person the single point of failure?
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:If they disappeared for 30 days, what would break?
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:Number four, which role does not have clear, measurable success metrics?
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:And number five, what's one process I touch every day that I could document or delegate
this week?
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:You don't have to fix everything at once.
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:Your power move is to pick one answer from that list and take action on it in the next
seven days.
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:Queen, here's what I want you to walk away with.
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:You did not build this business to feel trapped by your own team.
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:You built it to create freedom for yourself, for your family, for the people you serve.
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:I want you to picture this for a second.
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:You walk into your business knowing that if one person calls out, the day still runs.
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:Your team knows what winning looks like.
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:You're not secretly terrified of anyone quitting because your systems, not just your
superstars, run the show.
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:That's what healthy leverage feels like.
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:under performers and key person dependency are not signs that you're a bad leader.
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:They're simply signals.
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:They're showing you exactly where your systems, your standards, and your courage need to
level up.
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:You are allowed to expect excellence.
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:You are allowed to protect your culture.
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:You are allowed to say, this isn't working and change it.
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:So this week, I want you to audit your team with clear eyes, identify where you're over
tolerating and where you're over depending.
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:Choose one action, one conversation.
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:One boundary, one system upgrade that moves you back into power.
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:Because when your team is aligned, accountable, and cross-trained, you stop rowing alone
and you start captaining the ship.
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:And that's what Queen Mode is all about.
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:You are not just the hardest working person in your business.
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:You are the leader of it.
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:So fix the leverage.
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:Protect your standards.
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:And remember, every decision you make about your team is a vote for the future version of
you, the one who is free.
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:Now go make a move your future self will thank you for.
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:Thanks for tuning in Queen.
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:I hope today's episode gave you the clarity, courage, or confidence boost you needed
because building a powerful business starts with believing in you.
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:If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.
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:And if this podcast moved you, inspired you, or made you think, share it with another
powerhouse woman who needs to hear it.
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:Your reviews and shares help more Queens rise.
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:And if you want more tools, resources, or just want to connect, head to dr.
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:AnaCastilla.com or find me on Instagram at Queen Mode Podcast.
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:Keep showing up, keep leading boldly.
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:And remember, you were born to rain.
