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Organizing a Superstar Hunt to Upgrade Your Organization
In a previous organization, one of my most valuable employees was Sue. I didn't hire Sue personally. In fact, when I entered the organization, she was buried from view by layers of management and project bureaucracy.
When I finally noticed Sue, I promoted her. Why? Because Sue is a superstar. The only help she needed from me was a chance to prove herself and she took care of the rest.
Today, we're going to talk about how to get the most out of the superstar talent buried in your organization.
Your organization contains different types of people
Whether you openly acknowledge it or not, there are several types of people in your organization, which roughly break down into the following three categories:
- Superstars (or "linchpins" as Seth Godin calls them) [1]
- Solid, "get-the-job done", rule followers
- Pure under performers that add little to the team
As a leader, understanding and typing your employees can be tricky, because, well ... people are people. But finding, developing and keeping the best talent in your organization is one of your critical tasks.
Remember, it's not always obvious
You may be asking yourself, "What's so difficult about finding the best people and putting them in the most critical positions?"
One problem is many employees are potential superstars. If managed carefully, they could blossom like a flower into key organizational superstars. But before they can grow into their potential they must be identified. These potentials might be hidden from your view as a manager because they are in a role that is a bad operational fit for their talents (and therefore they look average or even poor performer), or they could be hidden by an average or under performing manager.
One fascinating aspect of potential superstars is they understand they can perform at a higher level, even if you don't. People like this feel like artists, mavericks, or just special. If you don't give an artist challenges and space to create and delight stakeholders, then that artist will eventually leave you to seek challenges elsewhere.
Conversely, you may observe average people in critical roles with high visibility. These employees may be friendly and charismatic, but are they truly performing at a high level? Sometimes not.
Visibility does equal performance.
Seek them out
It's extremely likely you have rockstar performers in your organization that you are unaware of. It's probable that at least a few of these potential high performers are thinking about leaving your group right now.
Excellent employees are hard to find. Ask anyone with experience hiring and firing employees and they will agree with this.
Viewed from a productivity perspective, true superstar employees in the right role are worth more than ten mediocre employees. [2] They seems to make the impossible possible.
Even though I'm repeating myself, it's important you understand this: one of your goals as a manager and leader is to find and maximize the amount of superstar talent in your organization.
One tool you can use is to organize a "hunt".
The hunt
Seek out people you trust in the organization, and ask them:
- who they think the top performers are
- who they think has the highest potential
- who they respect
Cast your net wide and get as much feedback as you realistically can.
When you do, it is important to get candid, 1:1, face-to-face feedback whenever possible. That way, you'll be able to see their face and their body language as they identify their candidates. It's important you ask these questions inconspicuously, during other conversations. If your employees know you are "looking for top performers" you will get biased feedback and the exercise will be ruined.
After you've collected the raw data, you need to perform some basic analysis.
- Who were the commonly mentioned names?
- If someone mentioned a name you are completely sure is a low performer, then that also tells you something about the judgment of the referring person. [3]
- Is there anyone you suspected of being a high performer who wasn't recognized by their peers?
The challenge
Now you have a list of potential superstars, you need a way to vet them. One way to do this is to give them a chance to prove themselves with a difficult task or new area. The best method I've found is to give them an open-ended and challenging assignment where they can use their creativity and brilliance to dazzle you. [4]
Your goal as a manager should be to put these high performers in a position that stretches them and allows them to contribute in over-sized ways in your organization. They should be able to answer "yes" when asked "Am I in a position to do my best work everyday?".
Be patient
Identifying top talent is a slow process. It will take time for you to work through your list of potentials (and that's okay). The payoff for your efforts can be huge. Identifying a single superstar and putting them in the correct critical role for their talents is a potential game-changer for your operation.
So be patient. Start cultivating your list and testing your potential superstars as soon as you can. The most important result is to have a mindset of continually looking for undiscovered talent in your organization. Good luck with your superstar hunt!
Take care, and I'll talk to you next time.
[1]: I hesitate to use the term "linchpin" because it's Godin's definition and he explains it in intricate detail in his book Linchpin. Most leadership and management writers have a unique term for these types of top performers. In this writing, I will call them superstars, but feel free to substitute in your favorite term.
[2]: This is based on my experience. No need to be all scientific.
[3]: Many factors can cloud people's observations. Perhaps they confuse friendship with high performance? Or visibility with high performance? Or charisma with high performance? Or (worst of all), busyness with high performance?
[4]: Yes, I used the word dazzle. Accomplishing the task or succeeding in their new assignment is not enough, they need to impress you.
Question: What are some other methods you use to seek out high performers in your organization? Let us know in the comment section below.