How To Attract, Create, and Retain a High-performance Workforce

A company’s chance for success is only as good as the people behind it. This has led many leaders and managers to focus on developing high-performance workforces. Cultivating a high-performance team means having people onboard who genuinely care about the business, can be relied on to deliver, and have the skills to propel an organization to realize its strategic goals.

They know how to perform and prioritize their tasks, how to get along well with others, and are capable of working more independently. You can count on them to get the job done faster, make better decisions, and come up with innovative solutions to complex issues.

These employees are a requisite ingredient for organizational development and success. We put together some of the best practices in these areas to help you attract, create, and retain high-performance individuals.

 

How To Attract High-Performing Employees

The job market is aptly named because of its similarity to any marketplace: you have to prove that you’re the best company to attract the best people. Because high-performance job seekers often have better education, skills, and experience, they have more employment options available to them. 

To get them through your doors and their signatures on employment contracts, you must establish yourself as a superior and preferable employer.

But how?

Focus on recruitment marketing. Recruitment marketing means creating a positive reputation for yourself as an employer and getting that message across to promising university students, professionals with a glowing track record, industry subject matter experts, and anyone else who might be your ideal recruit.

To enhance your reputation as an employer, you can:

• Hold seminars that establish yourself as an industry thought leader
• Host open house recruitment activities that allow applicants to meet potential colleagues
• Invite top university students from top colleges to workshops where you can screen them and later make a job offer
• Create microsites tailored for job applicants
• Feature high-performance employees in recruitment marketing materials

 

How To Retain High Performing Employees

Once you’ve built a team of high-performers, it’s important to know how to retain them. You can enjoy higher retention rates by: 

• Trusting them to manage their time, offering flexibility without micromanaging
• Providing consistent, constructive feedback to help them improve and grow
• Recognizing their achievements when they do something right 
• Considering a pay-for-performance culture
• Making expectations and goals clear, keeping communication with higher-ups open and accessible
• Providing workplace learning and workplace training opportunities for personal and professional development
• Maintaining work-life balance
• Giving them projects or tasks that are interesting and challenging rather than repetitive, menial work

 

How To Create High Performers

To create high performers, you need to have a high-performance culture or a culture that positions employees to make their best contributions. Agree on the behaviors, values, and practices that you want to encourage and get your leadership’s buy-in so they can support the culture you want to inculcate.

Specific and practical measures for creating high performers include having:

• Training sessions and digital learning tools to improve upskilling and to help them acquire new skills 
• Provide career development opportunities
• Mentorship programs with leaders also allow them to also mentor others as they move ahead in their careers.
• Two-way communication between management and employees encourages feedback and cooperation to make employees feel heard and relevant.
• Tools and resources to perform their jobs properly 
• Regular reviews of your teams’ processes to maximize efficiency and minimize frustration

 

Final Thoughts

High-performing employees go beyond the bare minimum as they are highly skilled in technical and non-technical areas. Knowing how to spot a high-performing employee is one thing, but being able to retain them and encourage similar characteristics will help your organization achieve better results and greater success. 

 

References

https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2019/05/21/the-six-traits-high-performing-employees-share/

https://www.insperity.com/blog/high-performing-employees/

https://trainingindustry.com/articles/workforce-development/5-steps-to-build-a-high-performing-team/