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Looking Up By Carol Kleiman
Top performers too often are talented workers to whom employers don’t pay much attention or provide encouragement. Managers figure these highly motivated people don’t really need more than the occasional pat on the back. They’re wrong, say experts. Outstanding workers need some TLC, too, in the form of promotions, attractive financial incentives and more. “The key to retaining key players is compensation and trust. Make no mistake about that,” says Laurel G. Bellows, an attorney who negotiates employment contracts and separation agreements for executives. Recently, Bellows has been seeing cases of “broken promises by businesses looking for cost-cutting measures,” businesses that assume that “A-plus” players will continue to do their best regardless of how they’re treated. “Today, companies routinely cut bonus opportunities and place handcuffs on top performers,” she says. “Employers should consider removing the handcuffs of deferred compensation and eliminate non-compete clauses.” That vote of confidence alone will encourage the most productive workers, claims Bellows. “If you pay your people and prove your loyalty to them, they will stay and grow. A-plus performers are the ones who bring in the business and new clients. If they get discouraged and leave, they take their clients with them.” There’s even more that managers can do for top performers beyond the rewards of pay and promotion, says Lisa Parker, senior vice president of The Strickland Group, an executive coaching firm. “Excellent workers continually deliver above and beyond what is required for the job,” explains Parker. “But they’re usually left alone and given little feedback.” Instead, managers spend most of their energy on poor performers. “Achievement junkies are highly self-motivated,” she says, “but they might have a blind spot that could become a liability, and no one’s ever talked to them about it.” Additionally, she points out that the workplace is constantly changing, and an A-plus worker might wake up someday to a different world and not know what to do. Here’s how to encourage top performers: “Give specific feedback all the time, not just at the time of performance reviews,” Parker says. “When you give a pat on the back, explain exactly what was good and why it worked.” Also, top performers often don’t know what they are doing that is significant. “The phrase ‘keep doing what you’re doing’ is frustrating. Managers need to be direct and deliver both praise and suggestions when they’re warranted.” The outcome, she says, will be that “the A-plus player will become an A-plus-plus player.” Not to mention a happier, more satisfied employee. © 2006 BY WN/CHICAGO TRIBUNE |
Think the people at the top get all the luck? Not true, when it comes to employees.