Overworking your over-achievers
Every organisation has five types of employees (which I wrote about here) with the ‘Stars’ making up 5% of the workforce.
These people are rare, but stand out from the rest. Sometimes it’s their knowledge, sometimes it’s their work ethic, sometimes it’s their humanity, often it’s all three, that’s what makes them stars.
So organisations do the opposite of what they should. Rather than nurture them, give them access to knowledge and people that can further their development or help them to improve technically at what they do, they overwork them instead.
I can understand, to a point. They are self-motivated, they challenge appropriately, they seek to understand what they’ve been asked to do and almost always deliver. So why wouldn’t we give them more things to do?
Why? Because they are human just like everyone else and will eventually either a) break or b) leave. At this point the organisation has a huge hole that it can’t fill because it’s neglected to bring other (willing) employees up to their level.
So rather than overworking your overachievers, identify what it is that makes them Stars and initiate programs to help to bring your Drivers and Coasters (and the managers that inspire and motivate them) up to their level instead.
Not only will this ensure that your Stars will be able to maintain both their pace of work and commitment to the organisation, but you’ll also create a pipeline of people ready to do likewise and guarantee results for years to come.
