Are Your Best Teams Becoming Islands?

As leaders, we are naturally drawn to where the friction is. We dedicate our coaching, resources, and emotional energy to the departments that are struggling to meet the mark.

We spend 90% of our energy, coaching, and resources on the 'problem' teams... the ones missing deadlines, arguing in meetings, or struggling with output.

Naturally, when we have a high-performing, autonomous team that just gets it done, we breathe a sigh of relief. We set it and forget it. We give them total autonomy because they’ve earned it, and frankly, we have fires to put out elsewhere. We call it empowerment, but if we aren't careful, it can quickly turn into neglectful autonomy.

Dr. Troy and I have found that high performance and deep engagement are driven by a culture of F.A.I.R. play. When you build a F.A.I.R. workplace, you focus on four key areas:

• Flexibility: Offering work-life integration through flexible hours and locations.
• Autonomy: Giving the workforce the power to make decisions and take initiative.
• Inclusion: Ensuring every voice matters and employees are involved in early-stage communication.
• Readiness: Investing in training and growth so talent is prepared for their next advancement.

Total autonomy can lead to dangerous isolation.

The problem is that many leaders provide Autonomy to their best teams but forget to maintain Inclusion and Readiness for the rest of the organization.

When a team is too autonomous and too separate, they inadvertently develop Golden Child Syndrome. While you see a high-functioning unit, the rest of the organization sees an exclusive club operating by a different set of rules. This is exactly how the "them-vs-us" mentality takes root.

The Purposeful Balance

Leadership purpose means celebrating the Golden Child team without allowing their brilliance to cast a shadow of resentment over the rest of the company. As a leader, your job isn't only to manage the underperformers; it’s to build bridges between your A-team and the rest of the organization.

If you aren't intentional about Inclusion, asking all employees for their opinions and involving them in early-stage communication, your high-performers' success can become the very thing that fractures your organizational culture.

Facing the Golden Child Syndrome

Our host, Dr. Troy, and Trevor Crunelle (who was guest-hosting for me) recently explored this dynamic on the UH-OH Conversations with Cohesive Leaders podcast with Andrew Brümmer.

Andrew shared an honest account of a major UH-OH in his career: he built a team so efficient and so autonomous that they became a lightning rod for company-wide toxicity. He found himself in a position where he was viewed as the company enemy by those on the outside.

He had to step directly into the line of fire, facing 17 angry colleagues in a single room, to dismantle the ghost elephants and bring the truth back to the surface. Ghost elephants are the unspoken, invisible issues that everyone senses but no one addresses, creating a haunting tension that lingers until someone is brave enough to make it visible.

It is a lesson in why vulnerability and inclusion are a leader’s strongest tools for bringing islands back to the mainland.

Click to listen to the full episode on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.

The F.A.I.R. Bridge Builder

If you suspect one of your teams is becoming an island, use these F.A.I.R. principles to reintegrate them into your cohesive culture:

1. Ask your high-performing team to lead a Lunch & Learn or a brief session for other departments. Involving them in the development of others shifts the perception from favorites to mentors.
2. Use an Organizational Internship program. Allow employees from outside teams to shadow the high-performers. This builds Readiness and breaks down the mystery of the exclusive club.
3. Ensure that while your elite team has autonomy in their process, they are still held to the same core organizational values and Inclusion standards as everyone else.
4. Listen closely to how other departments speak about your top team. If you hear resentment, don't ignore it. Address the ghost elephants early before they turn into a full-blown culture clash.

Leaders, look at your highest-performing team. Are they integrated into the wider culture, or are they an island? What is one bridge you can build this week to ensure their success is celebrated, rather than resented?