One of the most challenging aspects of building great teams is that you must surround yourself not just with people who will subordinate themselves to your will, but with those who will have much greater strengths, talents, perspectives than you do. Most leaders just can’t do it, and therefore surround themselves with compliant rule-followers who will never challenge them.
Yet one of the great joys of building a team is when you have surrounded yourself with star performers, people who are exceptional at what they do and go beyond all your expectations. this is only possible when you are willing to challenge your human urge to hire sycophants.
Once you’ve found a star performer, the challenge becomes unique: How do you keep this person motivated? They have already met and exceeded your expectations and so therefore may become bored.
Here’s a few ideas to keep your STAR PERFORMER motivated:
Encourage them to REFINE their work, even if it’s beyond what you expected. The leaders goal should always be to develop each staff member to become their best. For a star-performer, turning in great work may become routine. But you must encourage them to keep pushing the envelope so that they are stretched beyond their limits, thus creating more opportunities for them to grow.
Reward them with more Autonomy. STAR PERFORMERS don’t want to be micromanaged. Give them more freedom to created/execute and see what happens. They will almost certainly surprise you with things you never thought of.
Give them more Responsiblity/Authority: Be careful that you don’t move people out of their gifts and strengths, but if a STAR PERFORMER has the gifts to lead and manage giving them a larger span of control could be just the thing they need to stay fresh and challenged.
Praise and Reward. You should try to be a student of what motivates your staff, certainly your star performers. Whatever it is that motivates them, fill them up with praise and reward.
Be thankful for your STAR PERFORMERS, I know I am.
David Curry
