Turning Frustrating Team Class Projects Into Leadership Growth
Many high-performing students we speak to ask us, “How do I become a great leader?” They want to learn how to motivate others, communicate better, and use the strengths of their peers to help the group. These students have likely experienced good leadership before, and hope to emulate it, or perhaps have read about the impact of a great leader.
In school, demonstrating and learning to be a great leader can be challenging. You’re placed in classes that are often not separated by the motivated and unmotivated, and you end up surrounded by underperformers. Underperformers are the students in your classes or groups who drag you down, perhaps by making the motivated students do all the work, seeing everything as negative, or trying to force everyone to do things their way.
If you’re an aspiring leader, underperformers can become excellent vectors by which you improve your leadership abilities: taking the right actions with an underperformer improves your team’s dynamic and output. But not all underperformers are the same. To take the right action, you first need to identify what kind of underperformer they are. We have identified five categories of underperformer that a teammate might fall into:
The Incapabale Teammate
They lack the skills, knowledge, or experience needed to contribute effectively. Often, they want to avoid being exposed or overwhelmed, and they may crave guidance or support.
The Introverted and Shy Teammate
They prefer to keep to themselves, often avoiding the spotlight and group discussions. They want to feel safe, respected, and included without being forced into uncomfortable situations.
The Emotionally Dysregulated or Disruptive Teammate
They struggle to manage their emotions, which can lead to outbursts or conflict with others. They want validation, understanding, or an outlet for their emotions. They’re often unaware of how their behavior impacts the team.
The Ego Fueled Teammate
They prioritize their ideas, achievements, or status above the team’s goals. They want recognition, admiration, and control over outcomes.
The Unbothered and Apathetic Teammate
They appear disinterested or disengaged, contributing minimally or inconsistently. They want to avoid stress, responsibility, or accountability. They may feel disconnected from the team's purpose.
Each of these underperformers hurts a team’s ability to succeed. To lead your team to victory despite their challenges, you must make a choice: either help them improve and contribute or sideline them–whether by letting them step back or actively assigning them no responsibilities.
Identifying an underperformer is simple, but understanding their specific type is more challenging. The best approach is to ask, the goal is to determine if they genuinely want to contribute. Offer opportunities for them to step up, and ask direct yet supportive questions such as:
What challenges are you facing with this task?
How do you think you can best contribute to the team?
Is there something you need to perform at your best?
What would help you feel more engaged in this project?
Are there any obstacles preventing you from giving your best effort?
Pay attention to the teammate’s demeanor when they answer: they are likely to quickly show you if they are motivated and ready to contribute in their best way, or not.
Now that you’re knowledgeable about identifying and understanding what types of underperformers exist, you can start to deal with them–and decide whether to give up or help:
The Incapabale Peer
Key signal: they will tell you that they feel unable to contribute.
HELP: Figure out their strengths, so you can utilize them to help the team move forward. This can be something small.
The Introverted and Shy Teammate
Key signal: they will tell you that they feel fear and shyness, or it will be obvious in their demeanor.
HELP: Your whole team can encourage them by letting them know they are valued just as they are, and can demonstrate that their contributions are well-received. Give them something they can do without drawing too much attention to themselves, and when they finish the task, celebrate it.
The Emotionally dysregulated and Disruptive Teammate
Key signal: Likely pushes back against the idea that they need to change or are a problem at all.
HELP: Open feedback as a group is critical. It's likely the Disruptive Teammate is unaware that they are being disruptive. Open feedback from team members will give them the best opportunity to change their behavior:
The Ego-Fueled Peer
Key signal: they are shaken by the feedback, because they see disapproval from their teammates.
HELP: The Ego-Fueled Teammate needs to hear that their focus on themselves (at the expense of the team) is unwelcome by the team. The team should agree that everyone’s ideas will be heard in a controlled way, and then the team will pick the winning or preferred idea in a structured way. This is someone who wants victory and approval, so give them a clear path to getting it from everyone.
The Unbothered and Apathetic Teammate
Key signal: they don’t care while you’re giving them feedback.
GIVE UP: They should be sidelines once you have identified them. You may need to get an authority involved; you’re not in a good position to motivate them yourself, and you should not waste your time doing so. You may end up stuck with this person, and your best move may be to simply limit how much damage they can do.
By identifying the types of underperformers you encounter in school or college teams and gaining practice in managing them, you’ll develop a playbook for handling similar challenges in the future and emerge as a natural leader. One thing that changes when you enter the working world is that you don’t have to deal with underperformers like you do in school. You’ll likely have a manager (however imperfect) whose job it is to hold the individuals accountable for their performance and either help or exit employees that negatively affect the team.
