Just because employees perform well in their current position doesn't mean they wouldn't perform
But to do this,
As advisers, you may need to help your employer clients accomplish this strategic task. I suggest using the following criteria:
- Efficiency: They get the same task done faster than the average employee.
- Efficacy: The quality of their work is higher than average.
- Adaptability: They quickly get their bearings in a new situation and don't complain about "things always changing."
- Proactivity: They make suggestions and then take action to see them through instead of always expecting someone else to do it.
- Innovation: They have different ideas from everyone else that actually turn out to be useful.
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However, while this criteria should exist and be transparent, it shouldn't be non-negotiable — it is not a replacement for the manager's judgment, and they need to be aware of this. It's okay for managers to say that someone who doesn't fit all of the above is a high-performer so long as the impact they have on the company is large. Positive impact is the most important thing — it supersedes all other criteria.
This is also why employees who spread toxic negativity among their peers instead of trying to work out their issues with their managers or HR categorically can't be high performers. Even if they're efficient, effective, proactive and innovative (I left out "adaptable" since it's usually this lack of adaptability that leads people to spread negativity), their overall impact on the client's company will be negative because their attitude is infectious much like one rotten apple that spoils the barrel. And if their impact is negative, they simply can't be considered high performers.
Once your client decides how they would define a high performer, you can begin to help them identify their top talent. The first approach is for you to interview the clients you're advising. Even if they have trouble singling the best talent out on their own, they can still answer questions such as, "Who has the best and most useful ideas?" or "Who's your go-to person for complex tasks?"
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Alternatively, you can suggest the company use benefits like bonuses to have high-performers identify themselves. Since these are usually self-driven people, they love being rewarded for their effort. Bonuses are often just the motivation they need to give it their all.
Lastly, I've found that high performers love professional development — going to conferences, taking courses and learning new skills. But don't just take their word for it! They have to actually partake in these events. The reality is that most employees would say that they want professional development as a benefit if you asked them — just because it's a socially desirable answer — but only high performers are driven to actually invest time and effort into learning.
Finally, when the client knows who their top talents are, you can suggest strategies for effective talent shifting.
At CAKE.com, I developed a career pathway diagram split into two tracks: people management and individual contributors. Each track is then further separated into multiple levels based on required autonomy, job complexity, years of experience and knowledge and impact.
My team and I worked with managers to define what each level entails for every position within every department and made the document available to all employees. This way, everyone could see the requirements for different career paths, positions and promotions.
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This gave employees a clear image of how they can advance their career and what it would take to switch to another department or track. It also clearly showed that becoming a manager wasn't the only way to advance their career. You don't want high-performing individual contributors to feel forced to become managers if this isn't something they want — it would only lower their impact.
Of course, you should also get your client on board with the idea of promoting organic talent shifting. For example, our company has made a public channel on our team communication tool called Pumble where we post all internal job opportunities for everyone to see. In addition to this, we tell our managers to inform their teams about relevant internal opportunities just in case they miss the messages on the channel.
We also encourage cross-functional work. This helps to break down psychological barriers for talent shifting since top talent will find it easier to change teams if they already know the people in other teams.
This strategy has worked wonders for us — even some of our VPs have shifted to other departments. Just make sure to emphasize to your clients that it all starts with defining what a top performer is and identifying them. Once you can do that, you'll have a strong foundation for whatever talent shifting strategy you decide to go with.
