34% of US workers are actively engaged in their jobs. These individuals are enthusiastic about their work and their workplace.
Although this is the highest that the percentage has been since Gallup began reporting on these figures in 2000, it still means that 66% of US workers are either not engaged or are actively disengaged.
These statistics are worrisome, particularly if you’re not sure which category your high performers would place themselves in. High performers are your most valuable employees, and you certainly don’t want them getting lost in the crowd.
What is a high performer?
Generally speaking, high performers possess a number of these qualities. They are:
- Determined to achieve quality. They consistently deliver an excellent standard of work.
- Multi-talented. These individuals are innovative and often have entrepreneurial mindsets. Read more about ‘intrapreneurs’, here.
- Calm under pressure. They keep a positive attitude even when the going gets tough and they’re agile, responding well to change.
- Confident in making decisions. They’re able to solve complex problems and navigate a clear path forward.
- Able to work in a team. They teach, lead and motivate others.
- They work in a time-efficient manner, with excellent prioritizing skill.
- Open to receiving feedback – in fact, they value it. See our post on real-time feedback, here.
- They enjoy developing their knowledge and broadening their horizons.
There’s no one size fits all, though.
Your company culture, its values and its goals will, or should, paint the picture of what your high performers ‘look’ like.
For example, you may view excellent peer reviews or the ability to motivate others as more important, and more fundamental to your company’s success, than an individual’s appetite for new knowledge or their interest in internal gigs. It’s all relative.
How do you identify your top performers?
It’s not always easy to identify high performers, especially in larger corporations where personal interaction across the board can be tricky, if not impossible. In some cases, executives simply don’t know which characteristics (like the examples listed above) to look out for in employees.
To help you recognize your most valuable employees, we have developed software that does the hard work for you. With viEval, you are able to identify your employees that fall within the top 10% of performers, in alignment with your specific organizational objectives.
The system collects information from all your performance management review types – such as self-evaluations, personal development plans (PDPs), goal setting, employee evaluations, upward review, and anonymous evaluations – and analyses it in line with the parameters you set, ranking employees accordingly.
Is it worth knowing who your high performers are?
Absolutely.
According to the State of the American Workplace report, 51% of employees are actively looking for a new job or watching for new job openings. You want to be sure your top performers aren’t.
Identifying who your company’s top performers are will allow you to invest in their growth by allowing them to work on more of the projects they enjoy or giving them more face time with the leaders of the company. You’ll be able to give them the recognition, reasonable remuneration and career advancement that they deserve, keeping them happy and loyal.
By nurturing high performers, you drastically increase the likelihood of them remaining engaged – and that means you’ll be less likely to lose your most valuable people.