How to Give Feedback to High Performers on Your Team

The time you spend with your best is, quite simply, your most productive time.

Credit: Author

No one is perfect and that applies to high performers on your team too. They may be doing excellent work or exceeding your expectations, but that doesn’t make them flawless or leave them with no room for improvement or areas of growth.

Not giving constructive feedback conveys you don’t care about them, don’t recognize them and don’t appreciate the value they bring to the team.

You’re not doing enough if all you do is pass occasional remarks to appreciate their work:

That was great!

You’re awesome!

You rock!

Occasionally telling them how great they’re doing does not inspire, motivate or challenge them to do better. Rather, lack of clarity on development and growth areas can make them repeat behaviors that prevent them from reaching for their true potential.

Your high performers are highly valuable to the team and the organization — they’re 400% more productive than an average performer. Losing them robs the organization of excellence while also incurring additional cost, time and effort to hire their replacement.

Spending a significant amount of time with people on the team who aren’t doing so well or those who need guidance to excel isn’t wrong. It’s problematic when you do it at the cost of avoiding your high performers.

“Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield. The time you spend with your best is, quite simply, your most productive time.”
— Marcus Buckingham

Give constructive feedback to your high performers to help them stay motivated and invested in their own growth using these 5 practices:

Manage their ego

Giving constructive feedback to high performers is tough because of the inner voice in your head:

What if it puts them off?