We’ve all worked with people who would fall into this category.
People who are consistently doing more than is expected, in amazing quality, work longer hours without being asked and in the end come across as incredibly humble folks. In some cases that insecurity will be overcompensated by false confidence or bravado. However the root cause of this is not for you to diagnose, but for the person to find out and work with. #ArmchairPsychology
I think we would all agree that those are great people to work with—unless the false confidence rubs everyone the wrong way. Why wouldn’t you want people who smash expectations while being humble, don’t cause problems, and don’t ask for much?
Are you worth those people though? And probably you are and that’s why you are reading this. #futureThoughLeader*
Now, what do we mean by insecure overachiever? I will generalise here a little bit.
As a manager, you should be able to tell that someone is overachieving, right? Otherwise, why are you the manager if you can’t tell if people who report to you are doing poorly or overachieving?
So let’s talk about the insecure part.
For a lot of people, the insecurity is a catch-22. It’s the feeling of not being good enough, the constant feeling of knowing they could have done something better or faster. This leads to putting a lot of effort to work, in order not to have that feeling. “If I will try hard, I will then feel good about the outcome”. The difficult part is that it doesn’t help and rather it creates a strengthening cycle of self beating. I will say it’s hard to get out of that pattern on your own without any help.
Now, your job as a manager is not to feed that endless cycle, nor to exploit it. Otherwise, what does it lead to? Yes, you are right, burnout.
So what can you do?
- I assume you are a decent human being, so you are not going to exploit it and manipulate people. So… don’t.
- The reason why people are in that cycle is because they don’t believe internally that they are doing a good enough job. If you are thinking compliments help, they won’t on their own. It’s difficult to internalise praise, so make sure they are sincere. It’s not the volume of them, it’s timing and honesty.
- If you are a transactional manager you might want to work on relationships. Build a good relationship, so the person knows you will have their back. Don’t forget, when push comes the shove, you need to have their back when something goes wrong. There is probably nothing better to help with the insecurity than this.
- Work on transparency. What gasoline is to fire, the uncertainty is to insecurity. If can’t just impartially sit around to “see how things will play out” and then decide what your position is based on the outcome. So work on a consistent level of transparency. No one expects to know every detail, but if you have details which are important to the work insecure overachievers are doing, share them!
- You might want to spend some time pondering about your own insecurities. We all have them. Learning about your own will help you to relate to the people you are leading and help you understand what they are going through.
And if you are thinking “I need them to feel a bit insecure, otherwise they won’t do an extra two hours of unpaid overtime every day”. I can assure you that a less anxious workforce is better than an anxious workforce and even better than none. It’s a snowball effect, where secure people have better relationships, cooperate better, go out of their way more and look to do some bloody good work! Even though they still won’t feel like it’s good.
If you are wondering why to put effort into keeping and working closely with insecure overachievers, how do you think innovation happens, if it’s not for people who will constantly think there must be a better, more efficient or less risky way how to do something?
I think those five steps are relatable to any scenario, not just for insecure overachievers. Next time, I will write them better!
*I’ve seen this in someone’s bio on LinkedIn and if it doesn’t describe something, I don’t know what does.
Just above average 