Break the Golden Rule to Keep your Top Performers

It appears deceptively simple, don't you think? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The Golden Rule appears so undisputed that it might be a solution for every relationship. Simply behave toward everybody the same way you would prefer to be treated and all will run perfectly, yes?

But wait... It seems that something is amiss...

Does your business' twenty-something big shot salesman hope for the same things out of their work that your forty-something billing clerk wants? Is your technical staff looking for similar opportunities and rewards as your receptionist?

Apparently, their needs and wants are very unique, but many bosses use a universal method when appreciating their most important staff. Once a big job is completed, everybody is awarded an identical reward, whether it's a meal or a gift certificate. Delivering an identical reward to everyone is what's fair, right? But is it truly fair to your team's best people?

Keep the Top Players

Too few business owners know that the Pareto theory lesson regarding their staff means that 2 out of 10 of their staff are delivering most of your entire team's income. In addition, just about every management book refers to case studies comparing the productivity of the best people to the least skilled (yet still useful) people. The distinction between the top and bottom have been found to be as high as 100 to 1. The nearest these ratios ever seem to approach is about 4:1. But how much more does this extreme difference in value end up costing?

Assuming that your annual cost for the company's least skilled employee is $30k, how much are you paying your best staff? Since a decent amount of the costs for an employee stay the same, they don't go up in relation to base pay. For the purposes of this examination, let's use some worst-case numbers, $60k. Assuming that your $30k employee delivers $30k of value (otherwise you'd let them go, right?). If your best employee is a measly four times more productive than the worst, they deliver far more value for how much more they cost.

If your company invests in more training for your least valuable staff, costs instantly go up, but without any guarantee that productivity will similarly go up. Consider, also, how much of your time is factored into the "cost" of this moderately competent employee? Probably none. Management costs are usually invisible, factored away as overhead. It certainly feels like you're being productive - trying your hardest to bring along the strugglers, hoping that they eventually rise above their shortcomings. Consider how much of your time is spent with either of these employees:

• The self-managing dynamo who, with speed of a bullet train, handles customer complaints, delivers defect-free results, and even cleans up after himself in the break room



• The newbie who has some interpersonal issues, occasional quality issues, some trouble following instructions, and shows up late to work due to his occasional hangover

Indeed your best performers are worth their salt. As such, it's crucial for every entrepreneur to keep their winners, as this handful of hotshots represents 80% of your team's value. Their familiarity with your unique systems together with their skills and ability to get the job done in a pinch makes them nigh unto invaluable.

But, what's the most effective way to show appreciation for your best people? How do you prove to those high performers that they're appreciated, and increase the chance that they'll be there for you when you need them again?

What's the most effective method for motivating your superstars?

Show them the money. If your $30k staffer devotes himself to 80-hour weeks during the final push of a key effort, most pure monetary rewards would come in at a rate way under minimum wage. Simply rethink this choice. This can be extremely offensive, seen, instead, as a half-hearted attempt to buy them off and ease a boss' guilty conscience. If you do decide to follow this path, after the taxman gets his chunk, the net impact of this cash might be a lot less than it costs to give it out.

Send them to extra training. Some people might be excited about a chance to attend a conference in a new city expenses to the company. They may even ask to spend the week before or after, on their own, just to take advantage of this opportunity to rest up. Be careful though, this could come off to your superstar that you noticed their performance less than desirable. They might assume that they must take further training to be deserving of the more desirable reward that they hope to get. If your staffer is sensitive, they might get worried that all of that effort they exerted was a red flag to you that they were not so doing well at their job. Offering a training reward in this situation could be interpreted that this challenge was obvious to you, and now you are taking corrective action.

Promote them. Though the appeal of an impressive designation or material benefits accompanying a promotion may motivate some, more and more workers have come to understand the hazards of the Peter Principle. They're worried that their world will change drastically should they become a position of greater responsibility. Your turbocharged talent probably enjoy what they're doing right now. That's why they're so gosh darn talented at it. Before considering a promotional reward, ensure that the new responsibility truly takes advantage of the talents and skills of these talented folks, or you may end up having to replace them. If you risk it, make sure your hotshot realizes that they can get their old job again if it doesn't work out with the newly promoted job.

Offer more time off. Everybody likes to get away, right? Unfortunately, if you offer this reward to a very dedicated worker who is so wholly committed to their job that they have little social interaction outside of work, they may not know what to do with themselves during this leisure time.

Do unto others as they would have done unto them.

You can see that there are quite a few ways to reward your most valuable. It's dangerously simplistic to offer each of your staff the same thing. It's especially tempting to offer them something you'd like yourself.

These examinations reinforce a fundamental process: communication. To summarize, ask your key people what they really would like. What reward will let them to truly understand that they are appreciated? The life that leads a person to be a talented account rep is very different than the life of a great administrative assistant. You may be shocked by the answers you get back. If truth be told, your staff may be amazed, as well, to discover that you are truly giving them a say to decide upon the award for their hard work.

• Do they want more money?



• Do they want more challenging responsibilities?



• Do they want some time away from work to appreciate their children?



• Would they rather have more mentoring?



• Do they simply want to be recognized at a company gathering?



• What rewards have they received in the past that really made them feel good?

The answers can fluctuate considerably for each person, depending upon their long-term objectives, how their needs are currently being met in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and the current difficulties in their life. Don't make the blunder of believing that the answer you receive now will remain the same throughout your high performer's career.

In the end, as opposed to attempting to reward your people the way you would like to be rewarded, break The Golden Rule, and spend your time actually appreciating their needs and wants. By involving them in choices that affect their lives so immediately, you might unexpectedly cash in on the Hawthorne Effect, and motivate your employee by demonstrating you care. You will probably learn that you've produced a work environment that makes your high achievers more contented than they've ever been. Consequently, they will find a way to push themselves to new levels of efficiency, appreciating that their efforts will turn into rewards that are truly meaningful to them. You may even earn their admiration and loyalty for a lifetime.