I’m Stumped: Why Are So Many Systems Filled with High-Performing Leaders Leading Underperforming Teams?

October 10, 2023

I am routinely asked this question:

“Joe, in your work with campus leaders, what are the general issues of concern popping up right now?"

In the past six months, there’s been much dialogue on how AI will change the workplace, what the “right” campus hybrid/remote schedule looks like, and how to manage post-COVID budget/staffing realities.

It’s always tempting to dive in on these hot topics, but I typically don’t. Not because they aren’t legit struggles…

Because they aren’t the ones my most successful TEAMS are talking about.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that those things don’t come up (they do) or that they aren’t relevant to the work (they are).

It’s just that they pale compared to what I hear from the TEAMS most concerned about moving their system’s performance forward each day.

The heartburn of my most successful teams sounds more like:

I’m trying to get my direct reports to take more ownership of their work.
I know I need to manage up better, but I’m concerned about getting the politics right.
I’m trying to gain alignment with my colleagues, but they see things differently than I do.
Given the daily firefighting, I know what to do, but focusing on the right priorities is almost impossible.
I keep trying to get stuff off my plate, but it ends up right back with me.
I know I need to develop my team, but I don’t have a plan, and I never seem to get traction with coaching and feedback.

Again and again, I hear these two realities echoed back to me from my most successful teams:

1. The people stuff is the most challenging part of my day.

And…

2. I’m not spending as much time building the capacity of my teams as I know I should.

I’ve heard Chris McChesney speak on the 4 Disciplines of Execution and the dreaded “whirlwind” of work. The whirlwind is the 80% of our days consumed by the reactive, operational things needed to lead our organizations.

Yes, leaders must occupy the whirlwind, but you can’t get consumed by it to the extent that your competitive edge begins to dull.

That’s why HPG Executive Team Coaching is uniquely built around making two things a reality:

Focus
Movement

I’m inviting you to sharpen your advantage in both. Introducing my newest workshop for campus leadership teams, Helping YOUR High-Performing Leaders BUILD Higher-Performance Teams.

The details are HERE.

Introducing my NEW workshop for campus leadership teams:

Equipping YOUR Executive Leaders to BUILD Higher Performance Teams

Book the Workshop Today!

Many leaders struggle to decide what’s most important in developing their people, but more, sticking to THAT PLAN when the whirlwind picks up.

I’ve also noticed something very interesting in three decades of leading leaders.

When teams collectively commit to working on the Lead Measures of Culture, they begin to develop what Nassim Nicholas Taleb defines in his book, ANTIFRAGILE.

These are the teams who learn to habitually push against the effects of the whirlwind as they draw a tighter focus on the measures of:

Team Communication
Team Connection
Team Alignment
Team Capacity
Team Execution

When that heightened focus begins to occur, I observe our Lead Team Institute partners drastically accelerate improvement in both Team Health and the Reliability of their Systems.

That’s why we typically begin our executive team engagement with the Leadership Team 360™ baseline assessment to determine your team’s fitness in the Lead Measures of Irresistible Performance Culture.

Baselining helps inform us where to sharpen team focus.

But focus isn’t sufficient without movement.

Think about it. Just as your odds of showing up at the gym increase when you know that a friend (or a trainer) is meeting you there, you’ll become more intentional at growing your leadership influence when others are working on building Higher Performance Teams with you.

This is how our Lead Team Institute partners working with our Executive Team Coaches accelerate overall performance.

Once we know what’s most pressing, we turn our attention to supporting and challenging new actions and celebrating the wins that emerge as we start moving toward (not just admiring) an improved and preferred future.

The truth is that none of our Institute partners have loads of discretionary time to spend on leadership team development that fails to deliver results. That’s why we focus on YOUR most potent wins and the habits to sustain this level of performance within each monthly workshop module.

It’s really about becoming less busy and more brilliant.

If that kind of movement is important for you right now, I invite you to take the next simple step.

Applications have opened for our newest workshop, Equipping YOUR Executive Leaders to BUILD Higher Performance Teams. This is the first workshop in the Lead Team Institute series of workshops.

Consider this new workshop an appetizer to sharpen awareness and impact for the overall success of your leadership team.

The workshop details are here.

Applications Open!

Applications are open for our new workshop –Equipping YOUR Executive Leaders to BUILD Higher Performance Teams. — But don’t delay! We are generally able to honor better schedule preferences for earlier applicants.

Through a proven framework, this highly engaging team workshop is focused on the immediate, practical ways to build Healthy Teams and Highly Reliable Systems.

If that kind of movement is essential for you and your system’s performance, I invite you to consider this limited-time offer to accelerate your leadership team development.

If you are serious about differentiating yourself from the noise of average teams, I want to hear from you. Click the button on this page that says, “Book the Workshop.” We will follow up with you to answer your questions and pencil in your preferred team workshop date.

Booking this workshop might be your wisest decision of the year. New campus teams are enrolling each month, and we look forward to having you join us!

Lock in your preferred team retreat date, and we look forward to following up with you soon!

For you!

Joe

P.S. If the timing is not right at the moment, no problem. Consider joining THE GROUP. It’s a FREE newsletter filled with fascinating and practical articles, books, and podcasts curated by Higher Performance Leaders nationwide. HERE is a recent sample of THE GROUP.

Interested in becoming an Influencer to THE GROUP? Check it out HERE and become a regular contributor to THE GROUP!

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Higher Performance Insights | WHY AA TAUGHT ME MORE ABOUT LEADERSHIP THAN MY POST-GRAD PROGRAM

By HPG Info • September 15, 2025

The $282,000 Question Every Leader Should Ask I just discovered executive ed's most expensive joke: MIT charges $282,000 for leadership training that's 7x less effective than what happens in church basements. For free. Every. Single. Night. (Based on Kumar et al. 2023 MIT study. But the real proof? Watch what happens when you test this in your Monday meeting.) The Leadership Crisis We're Too Smart to Solve Last week, 4,200 executives added another certificate to their wall. Another model. Another acronym. Another framework gathering dust by November. Meanwhile, in a strip mall basement, 40 strangers transformed their lives using wisdom that fits on a Post-it note. The Ground Truth Data Universities invest $50B annually in leadership development 77% of strategic initiatives fail within 18 months Average executive tenure: 3.2 years Average AA member: 12.4 years in the same group We're paying premium prices for 23% success while ignoring a free system delivering 35% transformation rates. The 6 AM Revelation Picture this: Harvard-educated superintendent. Five schools. 42-page strategic plan. Tuesday, 6 AM, district parking lot. She's in her Tesla, googling "why smart teams fail" because her cabinet meeting just imploded. Again. The problem wasn't talent. It was translation. CFO speaks ROI Curriculum director speaks pedagogy Principals speak survival Nobody speaks human Two miles away: A construction foreman with a GED is guiding 40 people through bankruptcy, divorce, and addiction using five words: "One day at a time." She has three degrees and can't align her team. He has an eighth-grade education and transforms the lives of strangers. The difference? He knows complexity kills connection. The Coffee Mug Test Quick exercise: Write your system's core values. Now answer: What phrase do your people actually say at 3 PM Thursday when everything's falling apart? If they don't match, you're funding beautiful lies. MIT's research proves it: Simple phrases drive behavior change 7x more effectively than abstract values. Your team forgets "Excellence, Equity, Engagement" before reaching the parking lot. They remember "Progress, not perfection" when drowning. Why Simple Beats Smart (The Neuroscience) Stanford uncovered why AA's "uneducated" approach beats our sophisticated systems: 1. The Stress Factor When cortisol spikes, executive function crashes. Complex frameworks need a calm brain. Simple phrases work when everything's on fire. 2. The Mirror Effect We mimic language heard during emotional moments. AA phrases are forged in crisis, proven in survival. They carry DNA your consultant can't manufacture. 3. The Viral Factor "First things first" spreads because it saved someone today. "Strategic Pillar 4.2" dies because nobody remembers it under pressure. The $180,000 Discovery Hidden in Plain Sight Chicago principal. 40% annual turnover. Tried everything. Then she gave up and started saying "Grace before grades" like a broken record. The spread pattern shocked everyone: Week 3: Teachers quoting it to each other Week 6: Students using it during testing Week 12: Parent citing it at board meeting Year-end: 89% retention Stanford confirms: Schools with "viral internal language" show 38% higher retention. Save four teachers = $180,000 saved. But this isn't about money. It's about giving exhausted humans words that remind them why they teach. My Blue-Collar Working Class Story My parents embodied working-class success: Dad ran machine shops. Mom kept the books. First generation to own a home. Only generation that couldn't share a meal without someone storming out. They solved problems all day but couldn't solve their 6 PM silence. Until they found a room where titles didn't matter. Tuesday nights: Machinists next to judges. Nurses next to CEOs. All using the same language: "Keep it simple" (when complexity is killing you) "Easy does it" (when heroics become harmful) "How important is it?" (when everything feels urgent) I mocked the simplicity. "Bumper sticker philosophy." Sixty years later, the evidence is undeniable: Mom hasn't touched alcohol since 1975. Dad died this June, 10 years sober—something we thought impossible. They couldn't save their marriage, but those "bumper stickers" saved their lives. Now I watch brilliant teams implode while plumbers and prolific artists transform lives with coffee mug wisdom. The 12 Phrases That Outperform Any Strategic Plan From 89 years of proven transformation: "First things first" → Ends initiative fatigue "Progress not perfection" → Perfectionist's antidote "One day at a time" → Crisis navigation system "How important is it?" → Instant priority filter "Easy does it" → Sustainability over heroics "Keep coming back" → Consistency compounds "This too shall pass" → Perspective in 5 words "Stick with the winners" → Culture by proximity "If you spot it, you got it" → Your triggers teach "Meeting makers make it" → Show up, grow up "It works if you work it" → Accountability without shame "Principles before personalities" → Survives leadership changes 🔥 Your LinkedIn Challenge: Use ONE phrase 3x tomorrow. Report back what happens. (In the comments) 👇 The 30-Second Experiment Tomorrow's meeting opener: "What truth about working here would fit on a coffee mug you'd actually buy?" Then stop talking. Listen. Watch culture reveal itself. 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Higher Performance Insights | WE'RE ALL SOMEBODY'S IDIOT

By HPG Info • September 9, 2025

What If Your 'Problem Person' Is Actually Your Missing Piece? 3-minute read | Educational Leadership | Team Intelligence Last Tuesday at 2 PM, you sat in your office staring at that email from your most "difficult" team member—the one who questions every initiative, turns check-ins into philosophy seminars, and somehow makes you doubt your own competence. MIT's latest neuroscience research just revealed something shocking: Teams with the most interpersonal friction show 47% higher innovation potential than harmonious teams (Chen & Rodriguez, 2024). That "difficult person" driving you crazy? They might be your campus's greatest untapped resource. Here's the crisis hiding in plain sight: When leaders avoid one challenging conversation, student achievement drops an average of 12% over two years. The friction you're desperately trying to eliminate is actually... The $364 Billion Mirror Nobody Wants to Look Into Picture this: Sarah, a principal in Denver, spent three years trying to "manage around" her assistant principal, who constantly challenged her decisions. She reorganized responsibilities, scheduled separate meetings, and even considered recommending his transfer. Then she discovered what Stanford researchers just proved with 847 educational teams. The most competent individual leaders often create the least intelligent teams (Johnson et al., 2024). Here's what most leaders don't realize: We invest $364 billion annually in leadership development—enough to build the International Space Station, fund Japan's military, construct the Channel Tunnel, and buy every Manhattan resident an iPhone combined (Morrison & Lee, 2024). Yet 72% of workers still describe their environments as toxic. The kicker? Virtually no one admits to being THE toxic person. 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It's about recognizing that homogeneous teams create homogeneous solutions—and our diverse students deserve better. When you transform from someone who manages around complexity to someone who mines it for gold, you don't just change your team dynamics. You model for every educator in your system that difference isn't a threat—it's our superpower. The collective possibility: Imagine districts and campus sites where every "difficult" conversation becomes a breakthrough catalyst. Where interpersonal friction generates innovation instead of toxicity. Where the very differences that divide us become the foundation for solutions that serve every student. "Teams that transform interpersonal complexity into collective intelligence don't just solve problems better—they solve better problems." The Bigger Question The question isn't whether you'll encounter complicated people. In education, you will. Daily. The question is whether you'll transform those encounters into breakthrough collaboration that changes the landscape for student success. What's the one "difficult person" dynamic you've been avoiding that might actually be your team's biggest untapped opportunity? Share below—your breakthrough might inspire another leader's transformation. READY TO TRANSFORM? Stop hoping. Start building the collective intelligence that creates breakthrough results for students. The first step is understanding your team's current intelligence quotient. In just 5 minutes per team member, you can discover: Where your team defaults to individual rather than collective thinking Which cognitive perspectives naturally enhance group intelligence How to transform your most challenging dynamics into breakthrough collaboration