The Power of Providing Opportunity to High-Performing Employees

Regardless of your sector or industry, the war for talent shows no signs of stopping. A positive macroeconomic environment is giving even more power to the best employees, who have even more bargaining power in their careers.

If you are lucky enough to have one (or more) star employees at your organization, there is good news and bad news. The good news, quite obviously, is that these employees are completing outstanding work for you and your organization. The bad news, however, is that these employees are likely presented with a wealth of opportunities. Even if you think they are satisfied, they may be considering an opening at a competitor’s organization.

Because of this, you will want to go the extra mile to ensure that those high-performing employees are happy. By providing opportunities and fulfillment to high-performing employees, you will increase the odds that these employees continue being critical members of your organization.

The Value of Opportunity

There may be a variety of reasons why some of your particular employees are high-performers. They may simply be world-class at a particular skill that is essential to your organization. They may be terrific motivators. These high-performers can be outstanding evangelists for your business. In the best case scenario, they are a combination of the above.

But having said that, these high-performing employees often have some common attributes. They are diligent and hard-working. High-performing employees aren’t satisfied with simply coasting and getting through their day. They are voracious readers and always look for opportunities to learn. High-performing employees are also inspired by their work. Their work excites them and they often view their work as contributing to an overarching mission that they want to accomplish.

All of these attributes lead to an extremely important point. You need to ensure that your high-performing employees have opportunities to thrive and grow in your organization. In fact, your star employees will expect this. High-performing employees expect growth and additional responsibility in the future. If you do not present these opportunities to them, they will be more likely to leave. Employee fulfillment—while critical for each and every employee—is especially important for these high-performers.

Useful Strategies

You cannot be passive and expect that high-performing employees will continue to be fulfilled. You need to be proactive. While there is no bulletproof handbook on how to do this, there are some common themes that have been successful.

One of the best ways that you can provide opportunity and fulfillment to high-performing employees is to make these employees feel like owners. In other words, you will want to unleash the intrapreneurial spirit within your high-performing employee. Whether that is giving them a budget to pursue an idea that they have or even giving them more responsibilities, you want to leverage that employee’s hungry attitude. That employee, in all likelihood, will be grateful for the opportunity.

Along with providing your star employee with a sense of ownership, you will want to make feedback a regular occurrence. Because the high-performing employee wants to advance in their career, they will want suggestions on how they can improve in their day-to-day work. This is a great sign, and you should cater to the employee’s willingness to improve. You will also want to receive feedback from the high-performing employee. This shows that you are also willing to improve and that you respect this employee’s opinion. Ultimately, the mutual exchange of feedback will inspire the employee and make them feel like a valued member of your organization.

Finally, you will want to treat your star employees with dignity and respect. Again, this is something you should be giving all of your employees, but it is especially important for high-performers. High-performers have a variety of career options available to them, so they will flee your organization if they feel disrespected or bullied. You can avoid this fate by ensuring that they are treated with kindness—even under the most stressful conditions.

Take Action

In sum, you need to treasure the high-performers on your staff. They are difficult to find and have many options at their fingertips. This is the simple reality in 2019.

Because of this, you must feed their desire to advance in your organization. Give them opportunities and provide them with a sense of fulfillment. By doing this, you can ensure that your star employees remain star employees at your organization for years to come.