How good leaders create average teams
The four surprising ways managers discourage the very performance they say they want.
👋 Hi! It’s Jennifer. Welcome to my fortnightly newsletter where I challenge conventional business wisdom to help you become a different kind of thinker, leader and operator.
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Read time: 9 min.
The fastest way to kill excellence is to ignore it.
That’s a pretty sad lesson, isn’t it?
My daughter started high school this year in one of Oslo’s most competitive high school programs.
She had worked her as* off in middle school to earn her spot - staying up late studying, perfecting every assignment, believing that hard work would be rewarded.
So when she got into this school, she was overjoyed. She thought that she’d be surrounded by people who shared that same drive for excellence.
She was disappointed.
On orientation day, her new English teacher announced:
“I don’t give 6’s. You’d have to walk on water to earn one. And even then I probably wouldn’t give it to you.”
When my daughter came home and told me what happened, I felt frustrated, then curious.
What message was this really sending to students?
That effort doesn't lead to recognition?
That aiming high has predetermined limits?
As I reflected on this, I started noticing how often the same dynamic plays out in workplaces - leaders who say they value excellence while inadvertently teaching their teams that 'good enough' is what's really rewarded.
Most managers say they want exceptional results
They hire talented people, preach “high performance” in meetings, and decorate the walls with inspirational posters.
What's less discussed is how true high performers can create an unexpected challenge for even well-intentioned leaders.
Recently, I was speaking about this same topic to a respected CEO of a mid-sized company.
He told me, “I’d never hire you for my management team, but I would hire you as my replacement.”
I was puzzled by that comment, as I had never heard that before.
He continued, “You have too much energy. You'd make it difficult for me to manage the team because not everyone is like you."
I had never thought about it that way, but he was being brutally honest about something most leaders won't say out loud.
Excellence naturally raises expectations across the board, which can feel daunting when you're already stretched thin as a leader.
High performers:
Question assumptions and demand clarity.
Expect their work to matter, not just get done.
Push past “good enough” to better.
That intensity exposes any gaps in a leader’s own thinking and can feel threatening.
So, often unconsciously, leaders build systems that dampen excellence and normalize average.
What excellence really looks like
When I talk about high performers, I'm not talking about those who hit numbers at any cost, burn out their teams, or cut ethical corners to reach goals.
By high performers, I mean those who:
Set ambitious goals without being asked.
Own problems and elevate teammates along the way.
Insist their work makes a positive impact.
The business case is overwhelming.
Studies show that high performers are up to 400% more productive than an average performer, and research published in Kellogg's shows that simply sitting near a star employee lifts coworkers’ output by 15 %.
Yet those same studies show that excellence-driven performers are "simultaneously marveled at and disliked."
While some are fascinated by their drive, others are intimidated by it.
Four ways leaders accidentally reward being average
Most leaders would deny they prefer average performance.
We insist we want high performers on our team. But if you look at our actual behavior, you'll see we consistently reward average performance while discouraging excellence.
Here are four ways this happens:
1. Requesting reviews but struggling to prioritize them
Scenario: We've all been here. A leader asks to review important work because they genuinely want to provide input. The team member works nights and weekends to meet the deadline.
But when it arrives, urgent matters keep pushing the review to tomorrow, then next week.
Eventually, feeling pressure to respond, the leader skims quickly and says 'looks good' - then later finds themselves frustrated with aspects they never actually examined.
What's really happening: In the crush of competing priorities, it becomes easy to treat reviewing work as a checkbox rather than the strategic leadership opportunity it actually represents, which is developing our team's thinking.
Why this kills excellence: Excellence-driven people want their thinking challenged and refined. When we ask someone to do their best work and then ignore it, we're teaching them that effort doesn't matter.
What excellent leaders do instead:
Excellent leaders understand that developing their team's thinking isn't optional. It's the job.
They protect time for the work that matters.
For example, if we can't review something properly, say . "I need until Thursday to give this the attention it deserves."
And we find a way to keep that time.
2. Defaulting to obstacles before exploring possibilities
Scenario: Someone comes to you excited about a new approach. Before they finish explaining, you jump in:
"Yeah, but that will take too long.
Yeah, but we tried something similar before.
Yeah, but our current process is working fine."
The conversation dies. They stop bringing you ideas.
What's really happening: When we're busy or stressed, our brains naturally jump to potential problems first. It feels efficient and practical.
But this pattern can unintentionally signal that new thinking isn't welcome, even when that's the opposite of what we intend.
Why this kills excellence: Excellence comes from building on ideas, not dismissing them. When we consistently lead with objections, we teach people that thinking is unwelcome.
High performers stop bringing breakthrough ideas because they know they'll be shot down before being understood.
What excellent leaders do instead:
They show curiosity. They replace "yeah, but" with "tell me more." They ask questions like, "How would this work with our current structure?"
And through their questions, they show that they engage with possibilities before limitations.
3. Focusing on the trivial and missing the bigger picture
Scenario: A high performer asks you to review a strategy document. Instead of engaging with the content, you focus on spelling mistakes.
You make line-by-line edits changing "utilize" to "use" and "innovative" to "creative." You rewrite sentences and tell them, "this isn't how I would say it."
The strategic thinking gets no response.
What's really happening: When we're pressed for time or feeling uncertain about our ability to engage with complex strategic content, it's natural to gravitate toward concrete, fixable things like formatting and word choice.
It feels productive and gives us a sense of adding value, but it can miss the mark entirely.
Why this kills excellence: Micromanagement kills initiative and the desire to go above and beyond. High performers want their thinking challenged and refined.
When we nit-pick on the small things, we’re showing them that not only do we not trust them, we think that our way is the best way.
What excellent leaders do instead:
They engage with the thinking first. They explore possibilities. They build upon ideas. And together, you come up with something even better than the first idea.
For example, "This positioning could work well for enterprise customers, but I'm concerned about SMB resonance. Let's dig into that."
4. Treating extraordinary effort as if it’s ordinary
Scenario: Someone works three straight weekends to deliver a comprehensive analysis ahead of schedule. When they present it, you review the document, ask two clarifying questions, and move to the next agenda item.
You don’t acknowledge the effort, sacrifice, or quality of work involved. Or worse, you jest and say, "That was so easy, even my 15-year-old could do it."
What's really happening: When excellent work becomes the norm from certain team members, it can paradoxically become invisible.
We expect it, depend on it, but forget that it still represents extraordinary effort that deserves acknowledgment.
Why this kills excellence: High performers are energized by recognition of their effort and impact. Not bonuses or big rewards - just acknowledgment that you see what they did.
When that recognition is absent, they start to become disillusioned and unsatisfied, which leads to apathy.
What excellent leaders do instead:
They notice effort, not just results.
For example, "I know you put in extra hours to get this done ahead of schedule, and the analysis is exactly what we needed. Thank you."
Those two words, “thank you”, cost nothing but fuel future excellence.
The choice every leader makes
Managing high performers requires us to step up our own leadership game.
We can't rely on job titles or generic feedback. We need to think strategically, communicate clearly, and genuinely understand the work our teams are doing.
I get why there's a temptation to prefer team members who don't challenge our thinking or push us to be better leaders. It's simply easier.
But I've also seen where that path leads, and it's not the kind of organization any of us set out to build.
The patterns I've described aren't character flaws. They're natural human responses to pressure and uncertainty.
But once we recognize them, we can choose differently.
Back to the classroom
Remember my daughter's English teacher who refused to give 6's?
I realized I had a choice.
I could stay frustrated with the teacher, or I could help my daughter understand that one person's limitations don't define what's possible.
So I told her, "That teacher has decided excellence isn't available in her classroom. But you get to decide what's available in your life."
The same opportunity exists for every leader.
We get to decide what's possible in our organizations.
We can be the leader who inadvertently caps expectations, or we can be the one who helps people exceed what they thought was achievable.
Here’s how to start:
This week: When someone brings you an idea, try asking, "Tell me more about how this would work", before sharing any concerns.
This month: Block time in your calendar specifically for reviewing and developing your team's thinking. Not just approving their work.
It's the result of small, consistent choices we make about how we show up as leaders.
Our teams are watching.
What are we teaching them?
