We hear it all too often here at Elite Words – clients struggling to keep high-performing staff engaged and motivated, particularly so if their colleagues are unmotivated or lethargic with their approach. We all know at least one – whether it’s the eccentric genius, the manic workaholic or the master strategist.
There are many different types of high-performers, but there are five key things you can do as an employer or a manager to keep these employees firing on all cylinders.
So without further ado, here is our list of the five ways to keep high-performers engaged at work.
Listen, guide and counsel
According to the Harvard Business Review a high-performing employee can deliver 400% more productivity than an average performer. It’s totally unreasonable therefore to assume that the amount of time or attention needed to maintain this productivity is similar to a lower-performing member of staff.
Be there for your high-performers when needed. Listen to them, guide them and counsel them as required. There may be times when you feel as though you are doing this all the time. Just remember though that there can be no gain without pain! Simply understanding the fact that high-performers can be tough to manage sometimes is enough to solidify an owner or manager’s respect for an employee.
Be flexible with your high-performers
According to recruitment giant Hays one of the greatest benefits for employees with flexible working hours and/or location is greater employee engagement and satisfaction.
While remuneration always ranks highly on the list of desirable employee benefits, flexibility is right up there too. Whether that flexibility comes from a regular ‘working from home’ day or delayed start/finish times, the benefits for high-performing employees are clear. With increased job satisfaction, employee retention and of course productivity.
If you want your high-performers firing on all cylinders, ask them ‘How can I/we be more accommodating with our working hours or locations to increase your productivity?’
Give your best staff autonomy and authority
Spotify was recently featured in an article in the Harvard Business Review. The article explains how Spotify has empowered its employees by creating a ‘squad structure’, which enables its employees to achieve autonomy without sacrificing accountability.
Organising your organisation in such a drastic way might not be possible. However, you can give your staff more autonomy to achieve strategic goals in the way that they want.
Give your best performing staff the ability to make decisions and back those decisions, no matter what. There might be a few bumps along the road, but lessons will be learned and loyalty will be earned.
Allow them to fail
It’s impossible to learn to ride a bike without falling off. The same can be said for learning a new task, process or project at work. People learn when they are at the bleeding edge of their capabilities and unfortunately (like it or not) this is when mistakes are made.
As employers or managers, we cannot expect our best workers to stay engaged at work if they’re not pushing the absolute limits of their capabilities.
Give your high-performing staff the confidence to know that it’s OK to fail and you’ll be surprised at the results.
Acknowledge and reward their success
According to Forbes, for recognition to work it must be authentic, thoughtful and specific.
High-performers in particular just LOVE to be recognised and rewarded regardless of whether it’s a public accolade, a financial incentive, a hand-written note or a simple ‘thank you’.
As an owner or manager of a business or department, you have an incentive to keep your top employees humming along. And if a simple acknowledgement is all that it takes, then you’d be crazy not to do it.
About Us
Elite Words is a copywriting agency based in Sydney, Australia that specialises in client success through the provision of high-quality website copywriting, blog post copywriting, newsletter content and social media content services. Your organisation deserves great copy. You deserve Elite Words.
