How to keep star employees from leaving your team
How to keep star employees from leaving your team
Did you know superstar Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady can skip Wednesday practices?
After winning multiple Super Bowls and MVPs, there’s no doubt the GOAT has earned this enviable job perk.
Too many team managers fall into the trap of believing that each team member needs to be treated equally. But fair and equal are not the same thing. Here’s why: we don’t all perform equally, and we don’t all invest in the team or organization equally.
So, if you’ve got a high-achieving member who has, for instance, intimated they want a better work-life balance, why wouldn’t you explore that with them? Ultimately, it’s going to make them more satisfied and more productive -- so it’s a win-win.
Don’t take talent for granted
Most managers spend most of their bandwidth working with middling, underperforming staff. That’s because the high performers consistently work more effectively than their peers with little need for extra coaching and guidance.
The problem? They are often taken for granted. I see this frequently. A rising star suddenly gives their notice, and the organization didn’t even see it coming. More often than not, the company recognized the talent and had big plans for the team member. However, this wasn’t communicated, so they didn’t feel recognized and took their talent elsewhere.
LinkedIn has made it much easier for recruiters to poach stars. You may not know it, but your top talent has probably already received countless unsolicited pings about exploring other career opportunities.
In this post-pandemic world where talent recruitment has become ultra-competitive, leaders and managers must be more proactive than ever when it comes to keeping their top talent.
When your star keeps putting up the numbers, it’s easy not to invest your time or energy with them. But if you don’t pay attention, they may walk. So, where do you start?
Talk the talk
Check-in regularly with your most talented employees. Top performers generally don’t want to be high maintenance, so if you ask them how things are going, they will probably respond: “Good.”
But you need to probe deeper to find out what’s going on -- what’s working and what’s not. You need to invest time and energy into understanding what parts of their job they are enjoying and energized by and what parks they find draining.
Be curious with your questions:
What do they want to learn?
What other areas interest them?
How do they want to grow?
Drop a challenge
Stars thrive on challenges. So, give it to them. Maybe they want a little more autonomy. Maybe there’s company information you can share with them, so they feel a little more connected to the strategic goals and the big picture. Share some of the nuggets you've learned with them if you’re doing executive coaching or have just finished a professional development course.
Commitment to excellence
A surefire way to disengage top performers and risk losing them is to tolerate mediocrity from them or others. So, provide lots of feedback, more than you’re probably used to or comfortable with. And be specific about what they’re doing well and why. Also, tell them what better looks like—as I mentioned above, top performers like being challenged.
Also, ask them for feedback about how you’re doing leading, managing and communicating with them. They might say you’re the best boss I’ve ever had. That may be true, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things you could be doing differently. So, this is about really engaging them.
Push them about their career aspirations but be prepared to accept they may want to do something outside our department or the organization.
They may want to do an executive MBA, or they may like to learn about a different part of the business. Most organizations would rather have a star employee stay within the building, even if that means switching departments. Support them in their growth because that creates trust and loyalty.
The cost of losing a star
Losing a star is a significant loss, in today’s recruitment market. It can result in a loss of productivity and morale among other staff, and it may cast some doubt about your leadership with others on the team. So, start the conversation with your stars before it’s too late.