While having star employees is a dream come true, managing top performers comes with its own set of difficulties. With high-performing employees, your team will see increased productivity, engagement, and success – but only if they’re being managed properly. So…what’s the best way to manage your stars and let them do what they do best?

5 Steps to Managing Top Performers

We’ve come up with the 5 steps you need to take when managing top performers to set them up for continued success and help your company with employee retention.

1. Goal-Setting

Top performers are typically very action-oriented, self-motivated people.  Setting clear goals is extremely important to keeping them happy, healthy, and on track at your company. These goals should be challenging and ambitious, but not impossible. Give your star employees something to reach for so they can celebrate their achievements. With these agreed-upon goals, ensure you incorporate ways to track progress and measure success.

2. Opportunities

When having conversations to set work goals, also take the time to discuss your employee’s career goals. Set them on a path of growth and provide the right development opportunities. Even it isn’t time for a promotion, provide chances for them to learn and grow into the things they enjoy and excel at. Managing top performers means meeting their desire to mature and be challenged while they provide excellent work.

3. Autonomy

It’s probably no surprise that high performing employees like to do things their own way. Most top performers have determined their own processes and ways of thinking that allow them to produce the best results. They want the same thing as you – productivity and success for the company. It’s important that your stars don’t feel micro-managed, but instead have the freedom to work in the way that makes the most sense to them.

4. Feedback

A key aspect of managing top performers is providing solid feedback! These highly motivated and hardworking individuals want to improve. Highlight what they’ve done well and walk through the aspects of their work where they can grow. Make sure your feedback is actionable. Offer up your thoughts on how they can improve and create a conversation. How do they think they can improve? Star employees are ambitious and want to do the best work possible, so consistent, constructive feedback is an important part of the management recipe.

5. Recognition

Just as you would like to be recognized for a job well done, your high-performance employees appreciate recognition. Let them know how much you value them. Show appreciation in the way that makes the most sense for your employee. Everyone is different – get to know your employee and respond accordingly. When managing top performers, always remember that they’re people too.

Looking to recruit top performers of your own? Contact Staff Force today for all your hiring needs.