Managing High Performers

Identifying high performers

High performers are valuable assets to any team. They are powerhouses who get things done and deliver results consistently. Generally, they meet all the expectations at their level and sometimes exceed expectations. A key indicator of high performers is that they are always looking for bigger challenges and are more productive than the majority of team members at their level.

Note: High performers do not necessarily work longer hours to deliver results, and working extra hours shouldn’t be taken as an indicator of performance.

They are independent and do not usually need help from managers or senior engineers to navigate themselves to complete their tasks. When it comes to completing projects and delivering results, they don’t just succeed individually; they elevate the entire team.

Risks and strategies

It is great to have high performers on the team, but managers face some challenges in supporting them.

High performers are always seeking greater challenges, so it’s important to keep them consistently engaged. However, it can be difficult for a manager to maintain a steady stream of work that’s both meaningful and sufficiently challenging.

There can also be a potential risk of high performers being exhausted. Since they are delivering results at such a high pace and with quality, sometimes they are burdened with a lot of work. A lot of managers make the mistake of assigning every task to their star performers to ensure the tasks proceed without failure. ...