Retaining Your Top Performers

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We were in southern California conducting a Coaching For Success workshop for division managers at a young and rapidly growing consumer products company. When it came time to conduct a difficult coaching conversation, two managers presented a nearly identical scenario:

• The top sales performer on their team has been with the company for more than five years.
• Now the manager is getting the feeling that this top performer would like a promotion to a sales management position.
• This company is a very flat organization with limited management opportunities.

How should the managers handle this conversation? They don’t want to make promises they can’t keep. And they don’t want to lose top performers who are making a substantial contribution to the success of their teams.

You’re Not Alone

If you’re facing a challenge like this one, you’re not alone. Many top companies are struggling to attract and retain top employees in the face of intense global competition. The way you handle this situation can make the difference between keeping or losing the top performers on your team.

Take the initiative. Don’t wait for your employees to come to you for career coaching. Get ahead of the curve. Take the bull by the horns and initiate a career coaching conversation with all of your employees – especially your top performers.

Explain the three requirements for a promotion. Managers often struggle with how to conduct a career coaching conversation – especially when they’re talking with top performers and the stakes are high. The best approach is to be honest and informative. Help all of your employees understand that in order to be considered for a promotion, they have to meet three conditions.

1. The employee must continue to be a top performer.

This is true in any organization, and it’s especially true in a flat organization with limited opportunities. When leaders consider people for promotions – or other significant job opportunities – they always look first at the employees who are doing the best job in their current positions.

2. The employee must demonstrate the ability to do the job he/she wants.

Many employees are under the mistaken notion that being a top performer in one job is the only qualification they need for another job. That’s simply not true – especially when the move is a promotion from individual contributor to manager. Being a top performer in their current position is absolutely necessary, but it’s not sufficient.

The old adage is “dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” This is sound advice, and it goes beyond what you wear to what you do and how you do it. If you want to be considered for a management position you have to demonstrate your ability to be an effective leader and manager – before you get the job.

The top sales performers we discussed in our coaching class had plenty of opportunities to demonstrate their leadership skills. For example they could:

• Help out with the orientation and training of new sales people.
• Proactively share their best practices with the team.
• Take the lead in a special project.
• Help the team develop a new approach to overcome a difficult objection or competitive challenge.

But they weren’t doing any of these things! So the managers in our class had to prepare themselves to deliver a tough message: You can’t expect the leaders in our organization to have the imagination to visualize you doing something they’ve never seen. If you want to be considered for a position, you have to demonstrate that you can do it!

3. There has to be a suitable opening.

If there’s no job available, then there’s not going to be any promotion. And this is another reason why it’s so important to meet with your people proactively. Find out:

• What kinds of positions are they willing to consider?
• Are they willing and able to relocate?
• Are they willing to take a lateral move to position themselves for another opportunity?

Continue the conversation. People join companies but they leave managers. You have no control over the opportunities that become available in your company. But you do have control over how you help your employees make the most of those opportunities. So continue the conversation and keep your top performers motivated and engaged. You may not be able to keep them forever – especially if your company really can’t offer the promotional opportunities they’re seeking. But you’ll increase your chances – and keep them performing at their best.

Coaching Tips

Proactively help your top performers understand the three conditions to be considered for a promotion:

• The employee must continue to be a top performer.
• The employee must demonstrate the ability to do the job he/she wants.
• There has to be a suitable opportunity.

Continue the conversation and encourage your top performers to “dress for success” and manage perceptions.