How you go about managing high performing employees is every bit as important as having high performers on your team.  High performing team members add that secret sauce to the team, help drive the rest of the team further, and are a key part of the team delivering great results.

 I take you through 7 actions I have found to be super important in managing high performing team members.

 When thinking about managing high performers, setting expectations and goals together is a great starting point. Getting their input drives ownership of their goals, which in turns improve performance against those goals.

 High performers at work also need to be constantly developed to make sure you can keep them in your team for as long as possible. So constantly work on development. This is the best way for how to retain high performing employees. A great example is innocent drinks which have 70%+ of the HR team focused on staff development.

 What managing a high performing employee, delegate problems not tasks. Problems require the high performer to think, plan, make decisions and implement solutions. Delegating tasks alone doesn’t require them to think, plan and make decisions which is a waste of talent and your time, plus does not development the high performing team member in the same way.

 Next, it is important to what out for high performers burnout. High performing employees are the most like to burn out in my experience. As their manager you have to tread the line between keeping them challenged and learning and guard against overloading them with work or pressure. 

 Investing time coaching and mentoring high performing team members (and all team members) is the best way I know to increase performance of the individuals and the team. You will get back your investment many times over. Plus you can stay close to what they are working on without risk of micromanagement and build better relationships with them. 

 High performing employees want to be rewarded for what they deliver. Praise, compliments, prizes, and many other forms of reward which are easier to provide than money should be considered.

 And finally, you do need to pay high performers well otherwise they will leave. There is high demand for high performing employees so another company will be happy to meet their expectations if you don’t.

 High performing employees are a pleasure to work with. They do take every bit as much effort and through to keep them happy as other staff and it is twice as important that you take the time to keep them developing and staying within your company. 

 Enjoy managing your high performing team members!