5 Ways You May Be Sabotaging Your Top Talent

Even well-intentioned leaders can inadvertently undermine their top performers through subtle yet consequential missteps. This isn’t due to overt sabotage, but through silence, over-reliance, missed conversations, or assumptions about what top talent wants.  

The danger isn’t malicious intent. It’s the slow erosion of trust, autonomy, and growth. Your highest-potential people are the ones watching most closely: for cues about whether they’re truly seen, whether they’re still growing, and whether this is the place where their future gets built.  

This article pulls back the curtain on five leadership habits that quietly sabotage top talent and shows you how to empower these employees so they stay, contribute, and grow.  

 

Confusing Performance with Potential 

Top talent often gets rewarded for what they are doing now rather than being developed for what they could become. Research from the Center for Creative Leadership shows that one of the biggest engagement drivers for high-potential professionals is, “help me see a career path.” When a leader treats a star performer like “keep doing this job better than anyone else” instead of “let’s map what you could lead next,” they effectively pigeonhole that performer. They may perform well, but they aren’t growing, and retention goes down. 

Try this: Make growth the metric, not just output. Ask, “What’s next? What role, responsibility, or influence do you want in 18–24 months?” Then, build it in.  

Harming Autonomy Under the Guise of Support 

One characteristic that distinguishes top talent is their drive to solve problems and shape outcomes. If you micromanage or overcorrect their work, you send the signal: “I don’t trust you as much as I thought I did.” There’s recent research indicating that a culture of unchecked managerial discretion can breed sabotage (not always conscious) that undermines top talent because they feel their autonomy—one of our basic psychological human needs—was stifled to begin with. 

Try this: Give ownership. Define the outcome, set the guardrails, then let your best employees make the decisions and devise solutions. Follow up with coaching questions (“What are you considering?” “What’s your path?”), not micromanagement (“Did you do it this way?”).  

 

Overloading Stretch into Burnout

The desire to stretch your star performers makes sense—they’re ready, and they’re capable. But stretch is different from overload. When you pile on one high-visibility project after another without space for reflection, growth, or reset, your top talent starts running on fumes. They may keep going, but the trajectory starts to flatten, and they begin looking elsewhere. The literature on high potentials confirms that they need clarity about their development and meaningful movement, not just more things to do. 

Try this: Check their resource load. Ask, “What are you saying no to so you can say yes here?” Build in downtime or recovery. Offer development projects, not just busywork. 

 

Excluding Them From Strategic Conversation 

Top talent wants to see the bigger picture. They want to participate in shaping it, not just executing it. When leaders keep strategic information, decisions, and future scenarios to a small inner circle, they send an unconscious signal to star performers: “You’re not trusted with the important stuff.” Research shows high-potential employees are more engaged when they have visibility, stretch assignments, and authority.  

 
Try this: Invite them into strategic conversations (as it makes sense, of course). Include them in high-level meetings, assign them as strategic partners, and ask for their input on the direction. Don’t just ask your high-performers to deliver; invite them to shape what’s being created. 

Failing to See the Human Behind the High Performer 

At the end of the day, your top talent doesn’t just deliver. They also feel, learn, grow, hope, and yes, get scared. If we treat them as just another “cog in the wheel,” we miss their need for purpose, connection, and authentic recognition. Recent work even highlights intentional sabotage—yes, sabotage—from leaders who feel threatened by high talent and, by extension, purposeful neglect of the human in favor of the output.   
 

Try this: Build real relationships. Have regular check-ins beyond, “How’s it going with the project?” Ask about their ambitions, their career dreams, and what’s draining them. Recognize wins publicly and privately. Make them feel seen, not only for results, but for who they are. 

If you lead high-performing people, you owe them more than tasks. You owe them your attention, your trust, and your intention. Don’t let good leadership habits turn into subtle sabotage. By shifting from only rewardingdelivery to helping your top talent grow and ensuring they feel seen, heard, and appreciated, you will do more than retain your top talent—you will unleash their potential and multiply your impact as a leader. 

As a leader, these habits take time and practice to develop and are integral to the success of any business, big or small. If you need help diagnosing how your current approach may be limiting your top talent, you’re not alone, and BSM Partners is here to help. Reach out and let’s unlock what’s possible together. 

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About the Author

Dr. Frank Niles is Principal Business Psychologist at BSM Partners where he leads the firm’s business transformation practice. A trusted advisor to leaders and organizations around the world, he works with a broad portfolio of clients, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 Companies. Frank is regularly featured or quoted in the media, having appeared in Inc, Fast Company, CNN, NBC, NPR, and many more media outlets. In his free time, he climbs mountains.