Which of your staff / employees do you spend most time and energy with? Is it the high achievers or is it the low performers or is it the large number of steady, consistent performers in the middle. Most people if they are truly honest will say that they spend most of their time and most of their energy dealing with either the high achievers or the low performers and spend little to no time developing the people in the middle. 

I believe this strategy is flawed for many reasons.

Some of these reasons being:

Chances are low performers will at best become average performers and will probably never become great performers and if they do, the amount of energy and investment required to make this happen doesn't make sense. Low performers by their very nature can drag other people around them down to their level and that includes you as a Manager, which impacts on your overall effectiveness as a Manager.

On the other extreme, why does it not make sense to spend large amounts of time trying to motivate the top performers? By their very nature, high performers tend to be independent and like to work off their own initiative. Too much "interference" by Management can be seen as a distraction and a hindrance. As a Manager, working with the high performers can give you tremendous satisfaction as things are happening and activity levels are high, however how much of this is down to you and how much would happen even if you were not as closely involved? 

If you want to improve your bottom line, concentrate more of your management time on the vast majority of your staff who are steady, reliable and dependable. They are the backbone of your organisation. They are the people who stay longest in the company, whose work is of a consistent quality and who you can depend on to get a job done. They are also very often the people who are taken for granted who can turn into low performers if the appropriate level of Management and Leadership is not given to them.

By spending less time with the low performers, they will either leave or they just might raise their game by themselves. By spending less time with the High performers, they will just get on with what they need to do and you just focus on making sure any barriers of obstacles are removed that could hinder their high performance. 

I do not endorse the idea that Managers should not mange low or high performers at all. Of course, these groups of people need to be managed, but do not give them too much of your energy and focus to the detriment of the rest of your team?

Fergal O'Connor is a Business Coach working in partnership with his Business and Corporate clients providing a supportive, confidential, challenging and non-judgemental environment to make their ambitions and dreams a reality. Fergal also facilitates a range of Coaching and Management training programs, Team facilitation workshops and is available for public speaking engagements. Fergal can be contacted at Synergy Coaching Services, Tel: (061) 467287, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it web www.synergycoaching.ie

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