How to manage high performers and ensure they stay with you

​When you’ve got a team member who’s performing way above average, what do you do? You could ignore their performance and treat them like everyone else. You could hold them up as a shining example for others to aspire to. Or you could create a pathway within the business to support, encourage and challenge them. 

​In case you hadn’t guessed, your answer should be Option C. Finding ways to keep your high performers engaged in their work will not only help the business, it’ll also keep them in the business for longer. 

​Why are high performers so important?

The simple truth is that every business needs its high performers. Those employees who go the extra mile, who exceed their targets and storm ahead to meet the company’s goals. 

When it comes to recruitment and retention, the goal is always to find those diamonds, and then to keep them. Research has shown that high performers are up to 400% more productive than other employees. Not only that but yourtop 5% high performers produce 26% of the team’s output. 

In short, if you want your business to be successful, if you want to be competitive and if you want to be one step ahead of everyone else, you need high performers.

​Poor management = poor retention

It’s not just about finding those individuals though. The bigger challenge is keeping them. Whether someone is a high performer or not a high employee turnover is damaging to business with the average cost of replacement around 33% of that employee’s annual salary. 

When you start to look at the financial costs but also the impact on productivity, with new hires taking up to 8 months to get fully up-to-speed, retention becomes a much higher priority.

While there are general principles of how to keep your employees engaged, some of the areas become heightened when talking about high performers and one of those is management.

There’s a saying that people don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses. Almost half of employees questioned said they’ve quit a job because of a bad manager.  

It’s important for high performers to feel appreciated, empowered and respected. But for some managers, overseeing someone who operates at such a high level can be intimidating and bring out their worst qualities, resulting in micromanagement or feeling stifled.

If you’re experiencing a high churn rate with your high performers, then your starting point needs to be your management team and the processes in place. 

​Tips to retain high performers

Manging high performers can feel like a lot is at stake, and that the cards are all in their hands. The reality is that by making a few changes to create a supportive environment, you can benefit not just your high performers but your team as a whole. 

Professional development

When you read the research around retention the number one element that comes up time and time again is professional development. The way people think about their jobs has changed, and the expectation is that professional development should be the employer’s responsibility.

Research shows that employees who are given development opportunities are 15% more engaged and have 34% higher retention than those who aren’t. Embedding development opportunities into your onboarding and evaluation process not only fulfils an expectation by your team, but for high performers it can help challenge them and develop their skills in different ways. Businesses with strong learning cultures are 17% more profitable, and that continual skill development is part of the reason why.

But professional development doesn’t just have to be courses and learning. In fact, for high performers it should take a more rounded approach that includes advancement opportunities. Allowing them to work on different projects that are more high profile or critical to the business. Building in advancement helps keep high performers engaged through creating a variety that pushes them in unexpected ways.  

Recognise and reward

This is such a crucial part of managing anyone, but particularly high performers. Just because they operate consistently at a high level it doesn’t mean as managers that we should overlook just what an achievement that is. 

Verbally recognising and appreciating their efforts helps keep them engaged and motivated because they feel seen. When their efforts are overlooked it can cause resentment which ultimately will lead to them leaving the business.

But verbal recognition isn’t always enough. If you’re serious about managing and retaining your high performers then you need to look at other ways you can reward them for their work. That might be through a bonus scheme, annual pay rises or another form of compensation.

Happiness and health

A trait that is seen too often in high performers is burnout. They push and push themselves until they reach breaking point. As managers it’s our job to be the point of reason, to watch out for signs of stress or overworking and to mitigate them as soon as we can.

Yes, their output is great and we should be encouraging them. But only if it’s in a sustainable way. We also need to care about them as a person and help them regulate themselves. 

There’s also the risk that your high performers will end up with a disproportionate workload as others across the business learn of their skills and productivity. Helping them to manage their work pipeline and pushing back when necessary allows your high performers to keep some form of balance in their lives so they have time to look after themselves. 

Flexibility

High performers usually like autonomy, the flexibility to work in the way that suits them best. Even though the working world has embraced flexibility over the last few years, for some firms this can still be a challenge. 

There are worries about the floodgates it might open, or being taken advantage of, or even for some less confident managers, feeling like they aren’tin the know. 

Part of retaining your high performers is to empower them, to give them responsibility and to let them get on with it.

Communication and feedback

All of the other strategies only work if there’s open and honest communication between your employees and your managers. Managers will only feel confident empowering your high performers if they feel they understand how, what and when the individual is working on. High performers will only feel appreciated with open and direct communication. 

If you’re worried about keeping a high performer, talk to them. Understand what their aspirations are, what their challenges are and what you can do to help with that. 

At the end of the day all high performers are individuals, and while there are common strategies that can be deployed, the best way to manage and retain them is to talk to that person. Then take the information to flex your approach and create a pathway in your business for them to flourish. 

As businesses we need our high performers to help with productivity, output and to keep pushing forwards. But with the cost of losing them both financially and in terms of output in the back of our heads it can feel like it’s just a matter of time. 

Take an individual first approach and talk to those people to understand what they need from their employer. You can then start to build a framework and pathway which will benefit not just your high performing employees but your team as a whole. 

Taking steps to create a culture which rewards success, prioritises professional development and encourages open communication will see your retention rate improve across the board. 

​