Don't Neglect Your High-Performers: They Need Feedback, Too

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In this edition of the Manager Lab, we're going to talk about the article, High Performers Need Feedback Too. It's by Rocky Howard from November 2024, Harvard Business Review. Well, do you dread giving feedback? Well, a lot of managers do. Some even get anxious before giving a feedback session. And for those new to management, feedback discussions can sometimes feel like just another tedious to-do item on your list, something that you're required to do, but you don't necessarily enjoy.

You might be concerned about how your employees will react to your feedback, especially if it's a tough conversation. You might even wonder if employees really even value your words or plan to put them into action. Well, if you're having these thoughts, it's quite normal, but here's the reality check. Your employees do care about what you have to say, especially your high performers. Now, according to research, high performers are the heroes of your team.

Often generating more than 60% of the output. They can deliver up to 400% more productivity than their peers. And just being near high performers, so just being on the team can increase the output of other people on the team by about 15%. So think about that. Just being near someone else that performs at a high level can improve the productivity of everyone else on the team. That's pretty amazing.

So what does that all mean? It means that high performers are very critical to your team's success, and we've got to make sure as managers that we do everything we can to retain them. A part of that involves delivering very valuable feedback to help them learn and grow as data shows that this group is highly motivated by feedback. Let me repeat that. High performers are highly motivated by feedback.

They're also likely to move on and look for other opportunities when they don't receive that feedback or that quality coaching in their current roles. Unfortunately, managers often spend the majority of their efforts trying to improve the output of lower performers. The thought process is, you know, high performers are already good at what they do. I'll just leave them alone. I'll let them go. I'll spend time on the other people on the team. And of course, that's backwards thinking.

That's counterproductive. So again. Some of the research that I grew up with in the coaching space was that if you coach high performers, your return on investment can sometimes be up to 400% more than if you coach lower performers. So all that saying, it's really important that we, as managers, pay attention to our high performers.

Okay, so here are four actions that you can take to make sure that your feedback approach is fair and keeps top talent engaged. Number one, don't hold back on constructive feedback. It's easy to skip critical feedback for high performers. You know, you might be tempted to say you're doing great and you just move on. You might be worried that you'll discourage them by saying something negative. But both of those are actually big mistakes.

Giving high performers constructive feedback keeps them engaged and motivated. Research on what high performers want at work shows that at least 50% of them want at least a monthly sit-down with their managers. So you've heard me say this over and over again, how important one-on-ones are. You know, make sure that you take very good notes. If you're only going to meet with them once a month, take very, very good notes and then give them the feedback that they deserve.

And make sure that that feedback is very specific. I mean, literally bring up a specific time when you took a good note about their performance. Make sure it's clear. Make sure it's applicable. It tells your high performers what they did well, what they need to work on for future growth, and why. So that's number one. Give them constructive feedback. Number two, avoid all or nothing language. So things like, well, you always make such a great contribution or you never miss an opportunity.

That type of hyperbole can really undermine the credibility of your words. Because rarely do always or never accurately describe someone's performance at work. So instead of your questions were great in the last meeting. Try something more, you know, like in last week's meeting, your probing questions about the new product opened up the very important discussion that helped us redefine our fourth quarter direction. Something like that. Something that's much more specific and less all or nothing.

This anchors the feedback in very concrete examples by being specific and explaining what the questions and why the questions were successful. Okay, so don't give all or nothing feedback. Be very, very specific. Make sure you do not. Shy away from giving constructive feedback. And then number three, don't get too personal. This is a common feedback trap is giving personality-based feedback.

This is especially problematic for women as they are 22% more likely to receive feedback about their personality than men are. So instead of saying, you're a very nice person and you're just such a joy to work with. I mean, while that's nice, that's really just a compliment. It's not feedback. It focuses on a personality trait and not the employee's strengths.

So try this. Your clear communication and openness to collaborating with the sales team on their most recent campaign really helped us put together a more cohesive pitch and improved our relationships with the client. So you can see that that type of feedback is much more effective than just letting them know that they're a nice person and they're such a joy to work with. It shifts the focus away from their personality and towards skills and behaviors.

Okay, and then finally, number four, map out very clear paths for growth. Career growth shouldn't feel like a mystery to your employees, especially your high performers. Clarity around what's required to move towards their goals keeps people motivated, and again, it keeps high performers even more motivated.

Feedback sessions are opportunities to map out not just promotions, but also career-building projects, cross-functional roles, mentorship opportunities that maybe match their aspirations, things like that. Your one-on-ones are great times to reinforce that you're dedicated to helping them, your high performers grow and get the opportunities that they want. Okay, so hopefully we've talked about making sure that managers don't shy away

from giving constructive feedback. They don't use all or nothing language. They use very specific feedback. They don't talk about personalities. They really get into the skills and behaviors. And then you're helping them with your one-on-ones get very clear about their career path direction. So following these four tips can be very helpful in giving feedback to all of your employees, but especially your high performers.

But you need to be sure that you're not overlooking these high-performing employees just because they're already doing great work. High performers really thrive on actionable feedback and clear direction. So by delivering thoughtful specific feedback you empower them to excel and maintain their engagement ensuring they continue to drive success within your organization hope you enjoyed that i love coaching high performers and until next time we meet in the manager lab do good. Music.