We tend to think that star employees are born. People arrive in our organizations who just “get it” and produce incredible work, day in, day out.
We’ve all seen this in practice ourselves in the workplace. It’s the salesperson who gets double the conversions of the next best person. It’s the programmer who seems to be able to solve any coding issues. It’s the manager who everyone loves and respects and who seems destined to become CEO.
But the truth is that the majority of high-flyers weren’t just lucky with their genetics. Instead, their brilliance came from relentless personal development, their attitude towards work, and their willingness to learn. Those three factors mean more than just about anything else.
The question for managers, of course, is: what can they do to foster more star employees in their organization? Here’s a quick rundown.
Implement Learning
Using systems, such as Learning Bank – Onboarding LMS, helps you better manage employee training. The idea is to track employees as they level up their skills, keeping tabs on where they are right now, and where they need to go.
Having this level of granular training oversight makes any training investment significantly more potent. By covering topics that are most relevant to the employee, you make more efficient use of their time.
Encourage A Great Attitude
The next step is to foster a great attitude. You don’t want people in your organization who dwell on the negatives, constantly complain, and always look for scapegoats. What you want are workers who are genuinely excited about the work that they do.
Here’s one idea to foster a great attitude: provide constructive feedback. That doesn’t just mean telling employees what they did wrong. It means correcting their mistakes in an emotionally intelligent way. Give them as little reason as possible to dwell on their own inadequacies. Focus them instead on the tasks you want them to complete to a high standard.
Foster Confidence
We all know the brilliant intellectual who stagnates in life because they lack confidence. We also know the not-so-smart person who works every day to progress in their career.
Confidence can be a great friend, but it is also a quality of star employees. They genuinely believe that they have the skills required to propel projects forward and get stuff done. It’s their efforts that really make the biggest difference in output.
Ensure They Have Skills
Talents might come naturally. But job skills require training and repetition. Unfortunately, many companies still don’t accept this. They believe that skills and natural abilities are the same.
Just a quick observation, though, shows you that this isn’t true. You can have an employee with no talent whatsoever who can nonetheless become extremely skilled in certain work-related tasks. Giving employees skills is a great way to encourage more natural talent to emerge.
Get Them To Grow
Lastly, star employees are obsessed with personal growth and development. They want to see what they are capable of. Therefore, look for ways to stretch your existing team members. Occasionally push them out of their comfort zone.
P.S. This post contains affiliate links.
