Overachieving employees are efficient, capable, and driven, but the constant drive to exceed expectations is unsustainable and can be harmful.
Excessive achievement can be the result of a lack of self-awareness. Experts recommend open-ended questions and active listening to help employees recognize their internal drivers and identify ways to achieve goals in a healthy and sustainable way.
High-performing performers are competent, self-aware, and emotionally intelligent and play to their strengths. “They do the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, and in the way that works best for them,” says leadership expert Stacey Ashley.
On the other hand, "overachievers" push themselves to do things that make them uncomfortable, she says. “They are pushing beyond their boundaries – not just into a stretch zone, but into a panic zone. It's very stressful."
Excessive achievement is often implicitly rewarded because it produces results.
Laura Empson, researching the phenomenon of overwork for her book Leading Professionals, found that professional organizations often hire "unprotected overachievers" who are "exceptionally capable and extremely ambitious, but driven by a deep sense of their own failure."
Such employees are ready to work overtime and achieve outstanding results in the short term.
However, over the long term, overachievement can harm individuals, teams, and organizations. Among the red flags that Kaufman identifies are attrition, low morale, an underdeveloped workforce, and an unwillingness to be promoted from within.
Signs that you are too versatile
1. You prioritize results over people.
David McClelland, a pioneering Harvard psychologist whose theory of human motivation identified achievement as one of the three main drivers of behavior, recognized the dark side of people's pursuit of achievement: the tendency to take shortcuts and engage in unethical behavior.
As leaders, "overachieving people tend to command and coerce rather than coach and cooperate, thereby overpowering subordinates," write Scott Spryer, Mary H. Fontaine, and Ruth Malloy in Leadership Goes Wild: The Destructive Potential of the Possessed.
“By relentlessly focusing on tasks and goals—say, revenue or sales—a leader or company can degrade performance over time.”
2. You don't delegate.
Delegation is missing from the overachiever's toolkit. In their quest to succeed, overachievers prefer to do everything themselves rather than leave the responsibility to others.
A lack of trust in the abilities of others can have a wide range of consequences, from an unmanaged workload for the overachiever to underdeveloped skills among employees, which can lead to reduced engagement and productivity in organizations.
3. You don't say no.
According to executive coach Lisa Stevenson, the "overachiever" takes on extra work outside of what is required in his position, resulting in him being constantly overwhelmed. "These are people who raise their hands to participate in everything."
4. You work hard.
High performers are often the first to log in in the morning and the last to leave at the end of the day. In an article titled "If you're so successful, why are you still working 70-hour weeks?" Empson acknowledges that it is often necessary to work overtime.
“Work exceptionally long hours when you have to or want to, but do it consciously, for specific periods of time, and to achieve specific goals,” she writes. "Don't let it become a habit because you have forgotten how to work or live differently."
5. You suffer from burnout.
Long hours of work and excessive work will inevitably take a toll on well-being. “You can only be successful for a certain amount of time, depending on how resilient you are,” Stevenson says.
“Overachieving has an expiration date - I always say that an overachiever can bite you somewhere. It could be your health, your ability to sleep, your well-being, or your relationships.”
How to Manage Overachievers
A manager can help an employee bridge the fine line between overachieving and high performance by helping them use their enormous energy and effort more effectively and constructively, says Ashley, who recommends taking a coaching approach to help develop self-awareness about what motivates them.
Ashley recommends using a combination of open-ended questions and active listening to help the employee recognize their internal drivers and how they can act on their drive to achieve in a way that supports both the team and the broader organization and aligns with their personal goals.
Stevenson suggests encouraging gifted students to be less self-critical.
“Achievers are very strict
to yourself, so give them validation and feedback about what they are really good at,” she says.
What to do if you have too much time
If you suspect you are succeeding, seek feedback from others.
Excessive achievement often comes from a lack of self-awareness. “Often a person’s self-esteem and performance do not match how others perceive them,” Kaufman writes, suggesting using climate research, employee satisfaction surveys, and 360-degree assessments to identify instances of overperformance.
Kaufman suggests several strategies that leaders can implement to mitigate the negative effects of overfulfillment, such as sequencing tasks to rate their importance before assigning non-essential tasks—those requiring Bs rather than A+s—to other team members.
Resist the temptation to redo the work of others and coach team members in areas of their performance that need improvement. Consult rather than command and communicate strategic goals to the team so everyone is on the same page.
"Pay attention to work-life balance," Stevenson advises. “High performance is the key to sustainability. If you think you're too successful, you may need to schedule time and learn habits...to keep your balance. Remember that your brain and body need rest just as much as it needs activity.”