Why Top Performers Hinder Team Growth, According to Leanne Bridges

In a recent LinkedIn post, Leanne Bridges discusses a common yet detrimental management pitfall: a top-performing senior team member taking on too much, thereby stifling the growth and responsibility of their colleagues. Bridges highlights how this well-intentioned, albeit misguided, approach can paradoxically lead to decreased overall team productivity and increased burden on senior leadership.

Bridges opens her analysis by painting a picture of this high-achieving individual, often celebrated on paper for their dedication and output. However, she points out that this perceived strength can mask a critical weakness in delegation and trust.

“On paper, she’s your best performer. She’s across the detail on every project. She picks up the tricky technical bits her consultants should be able to deal with by now.”

The core of Bridges’ argument is that this senior fee earner, by consistently absorbing complex tasks and signing off on numerous projects, is inadvertently preventing her team from developing essential skills and taking ownership. This pattern, as Bridges details, leads to a bottleneck where critical tasks are delayed, and junior members are left waiting for guidance or approval.

The Cost of Micromanagement by Top Talent

Leanne Bridges argues that this scenario, while often stemming from a desire to ensure quality and efficiency, ultimately undermines the very goals it seeks to achieve. By not letting go of detailed work, the senior performer creates a dependency culture. As Bridges notes, this reliance means:

“her team aren’t taking the responsibility they should. And problems that should get sorted by her often end up with you, because she’s too busy to deal with them.”

This creates a frustrating cycle where the senior individual is overworked and seemingly indispensable, while the team remains underdeveloped and unable to operate autonomously. Bridges suggests that even when direct feedback is given, the ingrained habit of control and the perceived risk of delegation make it difficult for the individual to change their behavior.

The Managerial Dilemma

Bridges also touches upon the impact this has on the manager themselves. The manager, aware of the situation and perhaps observing the stalled development of the team, finds themselves burdened with tasks that should ideally be handled further down the hierarchy. She illustrates this by stating:

“And your week is spent doing work you’d like to hand over to her.”

This situation, according to Bridges, is not just about the senior employee’s workload but also about the manager’s effectiveness and the overall health of the team’s skill progression. The graduates, for instance, are left idle, waiting for the very tasks that could be developmental opportunities if delegated effectively.

Moving Forward: A Call for Action

Leanne Bridges concludes her post by offering a path forward for managers facing this challenge. She frames it not as an unsolvable problem but as a situation requiring specific interventions. Bridges emphasizes that the senior employee’s reluctance to let go often stems from a fear of risk, even when capacity issues are evident within the team.

Ultimately, Bridges’s analysis serves as a critical examination of how even the most dedicated and high-performing individuals can become impediments to growth if not managed strategically. She encourages leaders to address this dynamic proactively to foster a more capable and empowered team.