I was reading a very interesting story in The Washington Post the other day. It was written by an experienced, highly-ranked teacher who had recently left one school for another. Here’s what she said,

“When I was rated “highly effective,” I received a one-time bonus of $15,000. While the extra money was welcome, there were costs to this distinction.

“My rating served as a permission slip for my school to cut off the coaching support that had helped me improve. For the evaluations that followed, I was videotaped, rather than observed in person, and I received my scores in writing, rather than during a feedback-driven conference. As far as my school leadership was concerned, I was a great teacher, but I still felt that I had plenty to learn — and I was no longer receiving opportunities to do so. Instead of feeling valued, I ended up feeling neglected.

“One of the simultaneous joys and struggles of teaching is that you can always improve. High-performing teachers want opportunities to lead and support other teachers, but we also want support and frequent feedback on our own performance. When principals assume that high-fliers cannot or do not need to improve, they not only do us (and our students) a disservice, but they also run the risk of losing us. It is a fatal leadership decision. “Irreplaceables” demand excellence. We want to be challenged, and we won’t settle for any form of mediocrity — not from our students, not from our peers, and especially not from ourselves.”

This story resonated with me because I believe that I, along with many remodeling company owners, are guilty of the same thing. We take our top performers for granted because they make it easy for us. They know what they’re doing, they do it well, and they do it without continual monitoring. So we leave them alone to do it.

Instead, we give all of our attention to the weak players – those who need to improve. These are the folks that draw us in again and again, receiving the regular feedback that our top performers crave. This is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing.

Keeping our top performers is critical to the long term success of our business. Don’t believe it? Take a look at these statistics.

• Top performers produce as much as 10 times more than the average worker, while they often require less than two times the pay (Sullivan, 2012).
• “Superstars” produce up to 12 times more than the average employee (Corporate Executive Board).
• The top performer differential is 2.5 to 10 times that of an average employee (Sullivan, 2008).
• The more top performers you have, the greater the organization’s productivity!

So, take a fresh look at how you’re treating the superstars in your organization. You may feel that by leaving them alone, you’re paying them the greatest compliment. But they’re not seeing it this way. Instead, make a fresh commitment to give them the time, the feedback, and the opportunity to grow in your organization . . . or accept the fact that they won’t be with you for long.

The more you know about your employees, the better coach and leader you can be. There are many tools to help you understand your employees better and one of the best is a Personality Assessments. This in-depth report will show you exactly what drives your employees, how they contribute to the company, how to motivate them for long-term satisfaction, and how to help them overcome weaknesses and become even better at their jobs.

Learn how to become a better manager and leader today—and help build a strong, successful company that will live long into the future.

Call us at 301-490-5620 x101 to learn more. Or click here to read more about the Remodelers Advantage Personality Assessments by TTI.