As a business owner, you've got a lot going on. Whether you have five staff, ten, twenty, fifty — you have a lot to deal with.

You could have 20 staff doing fantastically well and two who aren't. I guarantee most business owners put more attention on the ones who aren't performing, trying to help them, find out what's wrong, or fix up their messes.

That’s because there's an inclination that most humans have: 

We tend to focus on what's wrong

You can fall into the trap of spending the majority of your time and energy on under-performers.

I'm not saying don't fix what's broken. But don't fall into the trap of spending way more time on what's wrong. 

Here’s some tips on dealing with staff:

Start with Acknowledgement

If you have 20 people performing well, invest more of your time with them. Help them. Because they're already delivering, they’re already helping you, helping your customers. Imagine what a little more time, a little more help, a little more resource could do?

The number one thing you can give your performing staff? Acknowledgement.

There are plenty of surveys that point to this. We hear it constantly in our recruitment division when interviewing candidates. 

The number one reason proven, high-value staff leave jobs is: under-appreciation, which is really just another term for under-acknowledgement.

Acknowledgement means letting someone know you value them. That what they did was good. That you appreciate them, their work. Many of the best forms of it are quick and completely free.

Go up to someone and say: "Hey John, the way you handled that client yesterday, they were so happy. I really appreciate what you do." That's it. That's the simplicity of it.

If you acknowledge and give attention to good performance, you'll get more good performance. 

Think of attention like investing money: invest it in what you want, and you get more of it back.

You're setting a clear example as the leader of how to earn your attention. The under-performer who notices you spending more time with John or Sarah, the ones delivering, will get the message: if I want the boss's attention, I should perform better. You're creating a culture that values performance.

Beyond direct acknowledgement, there are other approaches: Employee of the Month, Employee of the Week announced at the staff meeting, gift certificates, vouchers. Be creative and work out what fits your business. But start with acknowledgement. That's number one. 

If you have a team of 5 doing the same job and one person clearly is performing better than the others, doing more work, taking more responsibility. You can acknowledge them by promoting them. They know and the others know, so you may as well confirm it. 

You’d be surprised how many people look for roles where their great performance would be better acknowledged.

The second thing you can do is a financial form of acknowledgement: bonuses and pay rises for people who are performing.

How do you know who's performing? If you've seen any of my other content, you'll know the best way is to have statistics— a clear and consistent way to measure what each person produces week to week, month-to-month. 

If you don't have formal stats in place yet, there are other indicators. Your best performers:

• Just take care of business. You give them a task, it comes back done.
• You don't worry about them. You go home and they're not on your mind.
• They solve problems without being asked.
• They're willing, they help, and they're reliable.
• If they're client-facing, your clients come back happy, pleased with the service, leaving testimonials.

These are the signs. You probably already have those best performers coming to mind.

Ask Them What They Want

This is generally overlooked: Ask your best people what they want.

Money isn't the prime motivator for your most valuable staff. Sure, everyone needs money, but your best performers always have another reason for showing up. A personal purpose. A desire to contribute or add value. Love of the challenge. They know money comes in return.

Ask them: What would you like in exchange for hitting this target?

Some people will light up at paid time off, especially if they've got a family. Hit a target, get a half-day off paid. If they're that productive, they've likely already done their week's work anyway, so what does it matter? Other people want experiences: a dinner for two, a $300 voucher with babysitting thrown in. Trips. Something meaningful to them. I’ve seen huge results just so the team can have pizza for lunch and Friday afternoon off.

They’ll light up when they talk about it. Set it up. Work out how to make it happen. Work is a lot more fun if there’s a game.

The Bottom Line

Do not forget to acknowledge your best people. 

Start there, daily or weekly acknowledgement costs nothing and can change everything. Then layer in the rest.

Invest your attention in what you want more of, and that's exactly what you'll get.

Want help putting this into practice in your business?

Fill out the form here and let's talk about what it looks like for your team.