Situation: Our client had a select few high performers in their organization amidst a sea of average performers and a few non-performers. As is typical, all the attention went to resurrecting the non-performers as problems followed them wherever they went. Angry customers. Lost profit. Etc. At the same time, the high performers were frustrated by the slowness of progress and concern for their future.
Path Forward: The solution can be quite contrarian to what 80% of leaders follow. Forget about your non-performers. Stop spending time trying to resurrect poor performers. Give them tools to perform, hold them accountable and move them out if they don’t rise to the occasion. As our client focused on high performers, success followed.
Do NOT be skittish about confronting reality, coordinating with attorneys and the like.
Instead, provide a generic level of attention to your average performers and utilize techniques like train-the-trainer (that do not require significant personal attention) to give these folks opportunities to rise into the high performer range.
Instead, focus your attention on your high performers. Ask questions. Listen. Provide tools and support. Pay attention. Make sure they know they have high potential and that you have high expectations. Soon, your results will move at a pace you didn’t think was possible.