It seems incredibly simple, right? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The Golden Rule seems so undisputed that it would be a solution for all human relations. Just handle everybody the way you would like to be treated and all will flow perfectly, right?
Just a minute... There something wrong...
Would your twenty-five year old hotshot sales guy aim for the exact same goals from their career that your forty year old office clerk wants? Is your technical staff hoping for similar opportunities and rewards as your receptionist?
Indeed, their desires are very different, though many business owners implement a one-size fits all approach when commending their most important employees. When a big project is completed, everybody gets the same reward, be it breakfast or a gift certificate. Providing an identical reward to the whole team is what's fair, right? But do you think it's actually fair to your team's key staff?
Keep Your Most Valuable Players
Surprisingly few small business owners understand that the Pareto Principle lesson about their staff means that a few of their staff deliver most of your entire team's income. Further, nearly every management book recounts case studies comparing the productivity of the key employees to the least competent (yet still effective) employees. The distinction between the best and worst have been reported as high as 100 to 1. The nearest these numbers ever seem to get to one another is at best 4:1. But how much more does this extreme sway in value wind up costing?
Let's say that your yearly salary for the company's least competent staff member is $30k, what are you paying your key staff? Since a lot of the costs for an employee don't change, those costs don't go up in relation to base pay. For the purposes of this examination, let's use some worst-case figures, $60k. Assuming that your $30k person generates $30k of value (otherwise you'd let them go, right?). If your key employee is a measly four times as productive as the worst, they deliver far more value for how much more they cost.
If your company pays for more training for the least valuable players, costs immediately go up, but without any promise that productivity will likewise go up. Consider, also, what part 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 new guy who has some interpersonal issues, occasional quality issues, some trouble listening to reason, and shows up late to work due to the occasional hangover
Obviously your key performers are worth the effort. As such, it's crucial for every small business owner to keep their best, as this group of your greatest makes up 80% of your team's value. Their experience with your unique systems together with their skills and ability to get the job done in a pinch makes them nigh unto invaluable.
Now, what's the best way to invest in your key people? What should you do to show those high performers that they're wanted, and increase the likelihood that they'll be there for you when you need them again?
What's the best method for motivating your best people?
Coat their palms with silver. If your $30k staffer cranks out 80-hour weeks during the home stretch of a key initiative, most pure monetary rewards would come in at a rate
far below minimum wage. Just rethink this choice. This can be quite 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 value of this cash can be far less than it costs to pay it out.
Send them to extra training. Some folks might be thrilled to get a chance to take a course in a place on the company dime. They may even like to spend the weekend before or after, on their own, just to take advantage of this chance to stretch their legs. Be careful though, this could seem to your superstar that you noticed their performance lacking. They might wrongly assume that they must take additional training to be worthy of the ultimate reward that lies waiting. If your achiever is thin-skinned, they could be concerned that all of that effort they exerted was a red flag to you that they were not so doing well at their job. Suggesting a training incentive in this circumstance could be mistaken that this struggle was obvious to you, and now you are taking remedial steps.
Promote them. Though the allure of a notable title or tangible gains accompanying a promotion may inspire some, more and more workers have come to realize the dangers of the Peter Principle. They're worried that their world will shift a great deal if they are promoted to team lead. Your superstar staff probably
like what they're doing right now. That's why they're so darned good at it. Before trying out a promotional reward, make sure that the new position honest uses the skills and capabilities of these talented folks, or you may end up losing them. If you decide to risk it, ensure your hotshot knows that it's alright to switch back if it doesn't work out with the newly promoted situation.
Provide additional time off. Everybody wants to get away, right? However, if you offer this reward to a very dedicated staffer who is so totally immersed in their job that they have little else in their lives of the workplace, they may not know how to handle this leisure time.
Do unto others as they would have done unto them.
You can see that there are many mechanisms to reward your best. It's dangerously simplistic to offer each of your workers the same award. It's
especially dangerous to offer them what you would want.
These examinations reinforce an all-important concept:
communication. Simply put,
ask your superstars what they
really want. What reward will let them to truly understand that they are loved? The life that causes a person to become an excellent account manager is very different than the path of a great administrative assistant. You may be surprised by the answers you hear. In reality, your employees may be shocked, as well, to discover that you are actually giving them a say to determine the award for their hard work.
- Do they want cash?
- Do they want more challenging work?
- Do they want a little relaxation time to appreciate their children?
- Would they rather have more mentoring?
- Do they simply want to be acknowledged at a company get-together?
- What have they received previously that really made them feel appreciated?
The answers can fluctuate drastically for each individual, depending upon their long-term goals, how their desires at this time are being fulfilled in Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and the current difficulties in their life. Don't make the mistake of believing that the answer you get today will remain the same throughout your key performer's career.
Ultimately, as opposed to hoping to reward your people the way you would like to be rewarded, break The Golden Rule, and invest the time actually learning their needs and wants. By involving them in choices that affect their lives so immediately, you might coincidentally benefit from the Hawthorne Effect, and inspire your staff by demonstrating you care. You will probably notice that you've developed a work environment that makes your high achievers more contented than they've ever been. Accordingly, they will uncover methods to push themselves to new levels of productivity, realizing that their pains will result in rewards that are truly important to
them. You may even earn their respect and allegiance for a lifetime.
