A two-speed team is normal.

It’s no secret that a high-performing team is everyone at their best.

What’s not as obvious is that ‘best’ is often not the same for every person on the team. And what’s not discussed nearly enough is what to do about it. Given how common the uneven team is, we thought we’d change that.

As we look at culture and leadership, we almost always find an Executive Team that is uneven. Some at the top of their game, and ready for growth and next step – potentially successors to the CEO. Others barely sneaking over the bar in their first C-suite role, and still learning how to contribute at this level.

And it’s not unique to Exec Teams either.  It’s common with Boards too. Some Directors have just arrived as a NED, still quoting their executive career and achievements. They’ll be important to a key agenda item, and will be great Directors one day, but this is effectively their training ground. Others are on their fifth board, sought after for their broad experience and track record in transformation. They know the role – individually, and also collectively. They know how to play, and how to lift the room as they do.

Thinking logically, it makes perfect sense that this is normal. How statistically unlikely is it that a group of 8-10 people – and, by design, generally a diverse group of 8-10 people from different backgrounds and experiences – would arrive in the same room, on the same day, perfectly aligned on experience, knowledge, capability, and ways of working, leading and communicating?

Of course, teams are uneven. That should be expected.

From our experience, a two-speed team is most common during times of change or growth.

From a change perspective, if there’s been a tumultuous event, or upheaval, and the team has been dramatically changed, the team will be uneven. Some will have ‘survived’ the event, and be feeling that. Perhaps a little insecure and needing to prove themselves. Perhaps with a sense of urgency and needing to prove the decision to retain them was a good one.

Others will have been poached or recruited to join, often to ‘fix’ whatever led to the recent upheaval. They’ll know why they’re there and what the expectations are – around both required actions and pace. They’ll come from different backgrounds and experiences, ‘in-house’, ‘consultants’, ‘change and transformation’ – deliberate cats among the pigeons.

From a growth perspective, some leaders will be stepping up from smaller and have demonstrated they’re keen to grow.

Others will have been recruited to support the scaling, and might even be a little bigger than needed right now, but perfect for the future.

So, most commonly, teams are most uneven during, or just after, major change. So, their unevenness – and all the insecurities that come with it – are often smack bang in the middle of a somewhat fragile or fractious context. And that’s one of those times when leadership matters more than ever.

The 5 biggest risks with uneven teams are:

1.   Too much pressure on the best

Asking the best performers to carry an unfair burden.  Higher expectations and levels of accountability for those you know can handle it. Carry their own load, coach others, and do a little more. The most experienced expect that, and will gladly do it – they’re used to lifting a team – but only while those behind are stepping up. And credit where its due, they need to be appreciated as those that are carrying the team – greater rewards, more recognition, more responsibility and opportunity.

2.   Baseline at lowest levels

This often means a race to mediocrity, as you protect the organisation from failure, by overapplying guardrails for everyone. You take away authority and freedom to act from those who can, under the guise of protecting those who don’t have the experience. It means everyone steps back a little – a little less authority, a little less freedom, and a lot less accountability.  On a good day, only half your team is playing their best. And its easily explained as ‘managing risk’.

3.   CEO’s lost in detail double/triple checking

A sister to 2, the CEO becomes lost in double and triple checking everything. Not confident that the quality is high enough, the CEO becomes the audit check on all work. The team can relax, as for every action, there is another check and balance beyond them. The CEO will aim to catch errors or mistakes, and catch them they will. They’ll check ten things three times, and one of them will have a resounding error. Phew! at catching that. For the other nine actions slowed down or over-checked, there’s a massive deceleration and demotivation factors for all involved.

4.   Delegating to the lower speed executives. They become the bureaucracy police.

Not all roles in any team are equal. Some have greater importance, harder roles, and more risk. It’s where you play your least experienced that matters. The right amount of risk for growth and increasing accountability, without a material risk to the team and org.

Where you delegate the most important roles to the lesser performers is where you have the problem. If a person who is less experienced and less confident is running the process to control all others, you turn them into the ‘red light police’ for those who can go higher, go faster.  They’ll explain it by saying they’re making process/procurement/pace/workload ‘fair for everyone’, but not everyone needs the same safety net.

5.   Going to comfy conversations

This is the final one. In the absence of equal standards and expectations, leaders can seek a comfy conversation – one where everyone is safe.

Lets’ talk about ‘leadership styles’ rather than what we need to achieve.

Let’s talk about ‘resumes’ and experience – where we’ve come from – so everyone feels valued, rather than where we need to be.

Let’s align purely on values, not standards and achievements, when you need both.

Of course, getting your Executive this comfortable, forgets that outside that executive team, is a whole organisation of people (staff colleagues and customers) who need the executive to be the best they can be, or getting better for their shared future.

So, if they’re the risks, what are the solutions? Let’s look at a few.

There are four things that matter most in leading an uneven team.

Awareness. Growth. Generosity. Support.

It all starts with self-awareness. Every person should be aware of their strengths and gaps. What’s relied upon and what’s needed to develop fast. It’s the CEO, or Chair’s job, to go 1on1 and make sure that awareness is there.

Growth is an expectation on the team. That means you need the safety to be confident to step up and learn. Make mistakes sometimes, but deal with the consequences you created. Be confident to ask for help. It’s the CEO or Chair’s job to create the space for growth, not perfection, so every person can find their level of best performance, especially those that are already well above the bar.

Generosity is the foundation for every good relationship in every team. We know we’re in it together, and we rise and fall together not separately. It’s the foundation for trust. I’ve got your back and know you have mine. It’s the CEO or Chair’s job to role model and expect full and generous relationships between every person.

Support is the last piece. I’ll do my best, and I want you to do yours too. I’m not just cheering you on, but actively – proactively – reaching out to help. I understand my role not just to do my best, but to help you do yours. I know you’ll do the same for me.

All leadership is leading an uneven team.

• Having enough great players to play well, and win today.
• Having enough up and coming players, hungrily learning from the best, and getting ready to win tomorrow.

And creating an environment where the team – and every individual in it – is growing and moving forward in step with the pace, scale, and expectations required by the Org.

And that’s not always comfortable. In fact, on any given day, a truly high performing team can be a little uncomfortable for everyone. Everyone doing their best, and feeling supported to do so, but with high expectations of self and others. I’m expecting you to turn up and give everything you’ve got and I know you expect the same of me.  I know my best will be above the bar on some things, and below it on others. I know you can see that. I’m not embarrassed or worried. I just want to be as good as this team deserves. I also know you know I can see you too.

The CEO or Chair’s role comes in here:

• Expectations and accountability at the right level for every individual
• Relationships well balanced and supportive of each other
• A comfortableness with unevenness. The most experienced and effective and stepping up, raising the bar and coaching. The least effective knowing they’re well supported to learn, and everyone is confident they will.
• Measuring the team on the overall performance, and the impact on each other, rather than only on individual delivery.

Leading uneven teams is a core leadership skill if you’re creating the very best teams – growing, transforming and developing people across the spectrum – and it takes deliberate actions to find comfort – and the potential – through that discomfort.