Keeping Achievers Motivated / Monthly Mentor - February 2009
Keeping Achievers Motivated / Monthly Mentor - February 2009
Keeping Achievers Motivated
by JB Hunt
"The art of choosing men is not nearly so difficult as the art of enabling those one has chosen to attain their full worth." -Napoleon Bonaparte
High achievers probably represent fewer than five percent of the workforce, but they provide most of the energy that fuels corporate growth.
Maximizing their talents is a challenge for management even in the best of times, but it is particularly difficult now.
Traditional opportunities for advancement have diminished, the number of available slots reduced. The wave of mergers and acquisitions created redundant positions, many of which have been eliminated. At the same time, the highly competitive business climate and a rebounding economy place a premium on cost reduction and downsizing. More positions were lost in a trend that continues today.
In fact, smaller may be better—and more efficient—but this is small consolation to be the high potential, high achievers whose careers are apparently stalled because their employers can’t give them the chance to grow. Under such circumstances, what can executives do to keep their high potential, high achievers motivated?
Actually, the management of high potential people should begin during the hiring process, before they are on the job. Managers should make it a point not to hire candidates who are clearly over-qualified. Candidates should be told the truth about their jobs and the immediate tasks to be performed. They get frustrated when they feel they are being unfairly held back or that they are not getting the opportunities promised to them.
Creating Program Objectives
Some organizations—Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Merck and Eli Lilly, for example—have created career management programs for their high achievers. No two programs are exactly alike, but these programs have similar objectives:
Identify high potential/high achievers, not just the top performers in the division;
Involve line management actively in running the program, with corporate staff in a supportive role;
Develop “doers” (not learners) who can be held accountable for results;
Encourage line managers to make positions available for developmental moves;
Provide special training, both internal and external, and funding if necessary;
Make special task force positions available;
Train the supervisors of high potential/high achievers.
Companies with career management programs have reaped the benefits. Unfortunately, they are in the distinct minority.
Identifying Achievers
High achievers are difficult to identify. Many companies mistakenly assume that they will reveal themselves through performance. This approach doesn’t work well because it fails to take into account the bureaucratic variables in a large organization. For example, some supervisors may try to “hide” high achievers and keep them in their department by giving them less than outstanding performance reviews. Others may proudly claim a large number, even if there is only one or two who truly meet the criteria.
Other companies make the mistake of forcing all employee appraisals into some variety of bell curve, which requires that a fixed number of people receive top grades. Inevitably, either some non-deserving employees will be pushed into the highest grade or deserving executives will be forced beneath it. In any event, this system does not guarantee that those in the top rank will be the high achievers.
Management must take an active role in identifying high achievers. Administrative profiles are often a good place to start: individuals rated “exceptional” in performance and “highly promotable with potential” are likely candidates for the fast track. Interviews with department heads will provide further identification. Comments to look for include “goal oriented,” “risk-taker,” “good interpersonal skills,” and “a leader.” They describe potential high achievers.
Providing Feedback
High achievers seek constant feedback in a variety of ways, and they get frustrated when promotions, assignments, or even access to higher management doesn’t happen according to their timetable. The same holds true if the tasks involved in their job don’t measure up to their expectations.
To prevent frustration, managers must assess and communicate the realities of the work situation. In this active counseling role, they can:
Advise about the hazards of the track that is “too fast.”
Point out the performance and behavior characteristics that lead to true success in the organization.
Help define the next milestone in a career path. This is the thread that ties the individual to the organization.
Enriching Jobs
Today’s leaner corporate structure cannot always support the promotions or new assignments that meet the expectations of many high achievers. How then can we maintain their enthusiasm and productivity?
One solution is to make a current assignment more challenging. With the greater challenge necessarily comes increased responsibility. This approach may require a change in managing values in the organization. Managers must look at each position as an opportunity for people to grow—as well as to perform tasks.
Proponents of work redesign and job enrichment believe that both individual and corporate needs are met by this approach. Skills improve along with knowledge of the organization. It is a particularly appropriate vehicle for high achievers, whose high degree of motivation can carry them to success in challenging assignments that could daunt or overwhelm a marginal performer or plateaued worker.
Rotating Jobs
Historically, job rotation has been another approach to stimulating and satisfying high potential/high achievers. It is not nearly as viable an option in large companies today due to organizational realities like downsizing and cost cutting. In small firms, few opportunities ever existed.
When job rotation is possible, managers must take care to provide suitable opportunities within the organization while avoiding the mistake of pushing impatient candidates up the corporate ladder too quickly. Some promising people have been moved so fast, so often, that they haven’t had time to polish their skills, gain the experience, or develop the behavior that leads to a long-term success.
The solution lies in an approach similar to what Eli Lilly & Co. terms “quality movement.” Management must determine what the employee should learn from a particular assignment and make sure that the term of the assignment is long enough for the employee to do so. Lateral movement within the company is fine—a marketing person can certainly benefit from a stint in manufacturing—as long as the employee can develop a broad range of experience.
A caveat: some high achievers practice job rotation between different companies. If a prospective employee has a resume with a number of different positions in different organizations, the manager may be at risk in hiring, no matter how attractive the candidate.
Special Assignments and Training
Avoid token projects and artificial jobs that create a learning experience at the expense of a doing experience.
Even though cost-cutting companies have eliminated many management development programs, there are other initiatives that can be used to energize high achievers. A developmental assignment, tailored to the needs of the individual, is one example. Such an assignment would place a high achiever on a corporate task force or committee dealing with a special project or issue. For instance, assignment to a task force evaluating corporate expansion opportunities could help improve a person’s solving, influencing, and negotiating skills.
Companies that are developing new products and/or markets—or even buying new businesses—may provide achievers with opportunities that meet their needs. For example, some can be satisfied by assignment to the team charged with responsibility for the new venture. As a rule, senior managers should seriously consider high achievers when staffing these operations.
Assignments outside the organization should also be considered. “On loan” support to a local government, for example, can provide experience not available in the working environment and also help strengthen a company’s relationship with the community.
High achievers may need specific training. For some, it may be in areas related to self-awareness, such as training in sensitivity, interactive skills, or team-building. Others may benefit from job-related training, such as instruction in problem solving or computer-assisted decision making.
Having a senior executive act as a mentor is another strategy that has been used to help high achievers adapt to an organization and grow with it. To make this form of behavior modeling work best, there must be good chemistry between the mentor and the achiever from the outset.
Monitoring the program
Once the program is in progress, monitoring its effect on the high achievers and the organization is crucial. For example, has the individualized attention caused resentment among co-workers? Is the fast-track individual becoming a learner rather than a doer?
There is no established, uniform way to maximize development of high potential/high achievers. Managers must tailor their strategies to the needs and characteristics of the individual. They must carefully weigh their organization’s culture, climate, and values, because the career development program must relate to the company’s interpersonal style and business traditions.
Any program for high potentials must be based on an acute understanding and acceptance of the individual and commitment to his or her development. Managers should realize that these people must be observed more closely than their colleagues and take the time to do so.
Development must be a “real” experience for high potential/high achievers, preferably relating to operations. Managers should avoid assigning people to artificially created jobs or token projects that create a learning experience at the expense of a “doing” experience.
High achievers probably represent fewer than five percent of the workforce, but they provide most of the energy that fuels corporate growth.
Maximizing their talents is a challenge for management even in the best of times, but it is particularly difficult now.
Traditional opportunities for advancement have diminished, the number of available slots reduced. The wave of mergers and acquisitions created redundant positions, many of which have been eliminated. At the same time, the highly competitive business climate and a rebounding economy place a premium on cost reduction and downsizing. More positions were lost in a trend that continues today.
In fact, smaller may be better—and more efficient—but this is small consolation to be the high potential, high achievers whose careers are apparently stalled because their employers can’t give them the chance to grow. Under such circumstances, what can executives do to keep their high potential, high achievers motivated?
Actually, the management of high potential people should begin during the hiring process, before they are on the job. Managers should make it a point not to hire candidates who are clearly over-qualified. Candidates should be told the truth about their jobs and the immediate tasks to be performed. They get frustrated when they feel they are being unfairly held back or that they are not getting the opportunities promised to them.
Creating Program Objectives
Some organizations—Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Merck and Eli Lilly, for example—have created career management programs for their high achievers. No two programs are exactly alike, but these programs have similar objectives:
Identify high potential/high achievers, not just the top performers in the division;
Involve line management actively in running the program, with corporate staff in a supportive role;
Develop “doers” (not learners) who can be held accountable for results;
Encourage line managers to make positions available for developmental moves;
Provide special training, both internal and external, and funding if necessary;
Make special task force positions available;
Train the supervisors of high potential/high achievers.
Companies with career management programs have reaped the benefits. Unfortunately, they are in the distinct minority.
Identifying Achievers
High achievers are difficult to identify. Many companies mistakenly assume that they will reveal themselves through performance. This approach doesn’t work well because it fails to take into account the bureaucratic variables in a large organization. For example, some supervisors may try to “hide” high achievers and keep them in their department by giving them less than outstanding performance reviews. Others may proudly claim a large number, even if there is only one or two who truly meet the criteria.
Other companies make the mistake of forcing all employee appraisals into some variety of bell curve, which requires that a fixed number of people receive top grades. Inevitably, either some non-deserving employees will be pushed into the highest grade or deserving executives will be forced beneath it. In any event, this system does not guarantee that those in the top rank will be the high achievers.
Management must take an active role in identifying high achievers. Administrative profiles are often a good place to start: individuals rated “exceptional” in performance and “highly promotable with potential” are likely candidates for the fast track. Interviews with department heads will provide further identification. Comments to look for include “goal oriented,” “risk-taker,” “good interpersonal skills,” and “a leader.” They describe potential high achievers.
Providing Feedback
High achievers seek constant feedback in a variety of ways, and they get frustrated when promotions, assignments, or even access to higher management doesn’t happen according to their timetable. The same holds true if the tasks involved in their job don’t measure up to their expectations.
To prevent frustration, managers must assess and communicate the realities of the work situation. In this active counseling role, they can:
Advise about the hazards of the track that is “too fast.”
Point out the performance and behavior characteristics that lead to true success in the organization.
Help define the next milestone in a career path. This is the thread that ties the individual to the organization.
Enriching Jobs
Today’s leaner corporate structure cannot always support the promotions or new assignments that meet the expectations of many high achievers. How then can we maintain their enthusiasm and productivity?
One solution is to make a current assignment more challenging. With the greater challenge necessarily comes increased responsibility. This approach may require a change in managing values in the organization. Managers must look at each position as an opportunity for people to grow—as well as to perform tasks.
Proponents of work redesign and job enrichment believe that both individual and corporate needs are met by this approach. Skills improve along with knowledge of the organization. It is a particularly appropriate vehicle for high achievers, whose high degree of motivation can carry them to success in challenging assignments that could daunt or overwhelm a marginal performer or plateaued worker.
Rotating Jobs
Historically, job rotation has been another approach to stimulating and satisfying high potential/high achievers. It is not nearly as viable an option in large companies today due to organizational realities like downsizing and cost cutting. In small firms, few opportunities ever existed.
When job rotation is possible, managers must take care to provide suitable opportunities within the organization while avoiding the mistake of pushing impatient candidates up the corporate ladder too quickly. Some promising people have been moved so fast, so often, that they haven’t had time to polish their skills, gain the experience, or develop the behavior that leads to a long-term success.
The solution lies in an approach similar to what Eli Lilly & Co. terms “quality movement.” Management must determine what the employee should learn from a particular assignment and make sure that the term of the assignment is long enough for the employee to do so. Lateral movement within the company is fine—a marketing person can certainly benefit from a stint in manufacturing—as long as the employee can develop a broad range of experience.
A caveat: some high achievers practice job rotation between different companies. If a prospective employee has a resume with a number of different positions in different organizations, the manager may be at risk in hiring, no matter how attractive the candidate.
Special Assignments and Training
Avoid token projects and artificial jobs that create a learning experience at the expense of a doing experience.
Even though cost-cutting companies have eliminated many management development programs, there are other initiatives that can be used to energize high achievers. A developmental assignment, tailored to the needs of the individual, is one example. Such an assignment would place a high achiever on a corporate task force or committee dealing with a special project or issue. For instance, assignment to a task force evaluating corporate expansion opportunities could help improve a person’s solving, influencing, and negotiating skills.
Companies that are developing new products and/or markets—or even buying new businesses—may provide achievers with opportunities that meet their needs. For example, some can be satisfied by assignment to the team charged with responsibility for the new venture. As a rule, senior managers should seriously consider high achievers when staffing these operations.
Assignments outside the organization should also be considered. “On loan” support to a local government, for example, can provide experience not available in the working environment and also help strengthen a company’s relationship with the community.
High achievers may need specific training. For some, it may be in areas related to self-awareness, such as training in sensitivity, interactive skills, or team-building. Others may benefit from job-related training, such as instruction in problem solving or computer-assisted decision making.
Having a senior executive act as a mentor is another strategy that has been used to help high achievers adapt to an organization and grow with it. To make this form of behavior modeling work best, there must be good chemistry between the mentor and the achiever from the outset.
Monitoring the program
Once the program is in progress, monitoring its effect on the high achievers and the organization is crucial. For example, has the individualized attention caused resentment among co-workers? Is the fast-track individual becoming a learner rather than a doer?
There is no established, uniform way to maximize development of high potential/high achievers. Managers must tailor their strategies to the needs and characteristics of the individual. They must carefully weigh their organization’s culture, climate, and values, because the career development program must relate to the company’s interpersonal style and business traditions.
Any program for high potentials must be based on an acute understanding and acceptance of the individual and commitment to his or her development. Managers should realize that these people must be observed more closely than their colleagues and take the time to do so.
Development must be a “real” experience for high potential/high achievers, preferably relating to operations. Managers should avoid assigning people to artificially created jobs or token projects that create a learning experience at the expense of a “doing” experience.
Monthly Mentor / January 2007
Keeping Achievers Motivated
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