How Being A High Performer Limits Your Leadership Potential
There is a point where your thoroughness becomes your handicap. Here's how it is different and how to address it.
Sam is one of the high performers on my team. She was someone I trusted to handle any problem thrown her way. Sam anticipated objections and presented solid arguments for her projects. She wrote thoughtful documents that showed her depth of thinking. I pointed to her work in many forums as an example of best-in-class.
Then she stepped into a VP-level role, and a few months in, I sat her down for a feedback conversation.
"You’re still behaving like a senior individual contributor." I told her, "I need you to uplevel yourself and your thinking. You’re not operating at the right level."
Sam’s greatest strength has become her ceiling on potential.
When Nuance Becomes Noise
When we are in the weeds doing the work, we are praised for being thorough. When you’re leading a team, thoroughly talking through both sides feels like you’re covering your bases and not making a call. When we are influencing our peers, rigor builds confidence and influence. At the executive level, people look for someone who has synthesized all the complexity and is willing to take a stand.
What people look to you for changes as you move up the ranks. In the more junior levels, your ability to influence and persuade depends on your expertise. And rigor increases expertise. As an executive, people want clarity, simplicity, and direction. They want a vision and direction that gives them the room to run, not step-by-step instructions that run 20 pages. The nuance that was appreciated becomes noise in clear decision-making.
The difference is not in how much you might prepare or how thorough you are in your work. It is in how you then show up in front of others and what you visibly communicate. It often comes down to trusting in your instincts and showing up with confidence in yourself.
How To Show Up At the Next Level
At the executive level, people want to know what you think. They care much less about you getting their input. They’ve been struggling with the confusing trade-offs or dealing with combative colleagues. They are scared that the competitors will win or worried the company is not innovating. They want a clear, decisive answer, not a debate. That is why the nuance does not matter. If nuance and details could have solved their concerns, then their concerns would not have come to you. They want you to make a call.
Here’s how to show up differently at VP+:
Before: Bring all the data, then encourage others to draw their own conclusions.
Executive: Absorb all the data, lead the conversation with your conclusion.
Before: Show your work, because the work is what earns trust from peers.
Executive: Lead with the call. Assume trust is there.
Before: Be comprehensive in showing your work. Articulate both sides and all the different options.
Executive: Voicing both sides signals that you aren’t sure. Pick one, and state why.
This way of leading does not mean be shallow or overly confident. On the contrary, it require the same level of thoroughtfulness and rigot that got you to the VP level position. However, rather than starting with all the nuance, you now start with the summary, the pitch, or your take. The best leaders then can dive deep as needed in different directions with different functions and stakeholders.
That’s all folks! See you next week at 3:14 pm.
Yue
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The Uncommon Executive is a newsletter for senior managers and directors navigating the transition to the next level. If you found this useful, forward it to someone who's still doing the previous job exceptionally well.
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"Before: Bring all the data, then encourage others to draw their own conclusions.
Executive: Absorb all the data, lead the conversation with your conclusion."
This is very interesting and a little surprising. How do you encourage people under you to feel empowered to make recommendations if you are leading with your conclusion?
Very on point - thanks for sharing this!
One of the best bits of coaching I ever received used a book metaphor to make a similar point. The higher you get, the more your communication should be in the style of a Thriller, not a Mystery:
- Mystery - the clues (i.e. the facts and data) emerge one by one, and you only learn who did it (i.e. the bottom line decision) at the end.
- Thriller - you know who did it up front (i.e. what's the bottom line), and the rest of the book (i.e. facts and data) is about how they might get away with it. BLUF.