High Failure Rate of Hi-Pro Employees

Have you got any Hi-pro employees in your organization?  These are high potential employees—you know—the ones you want to keep around.  They are the ones you are willing to invest your time and money as future leaders.  Problem is that on balance 55% of those tagged as Hi-pro will drop out or take your training and take their knowledge to a competitor.

Conditional Bias

Two conditions describe why there is such a high failure rate among Hi-pro employees.  The first is conditional bias. The second is unconscious bias.  Conditional bias is misperception of potential top employee performance based on factors not actually related to top performance.  An example might be percentage of quota vs. profitability of each sale.

Unconscious Bias is a Factor

As we go through life we pick up unconscious bias through our life experiences.  When we interact with people these biases, pop up automatically and stir our emotions causing us to make decisions not based on what is true but rather what we think is true; a halo effect.  An example might be the appearance of competence based on tasks and factors not actually related to top performance vs. actual competence demonstrated by the execution of tasks and factors that are actually related to top performance.

Control Your Emotions

A client was once excited about a perceived Hi-pro candidate with a specific bit of experience that the client valued.  However when asked what amount of time the candidate would be called upon to use that experience the client said about 20%.  When asked to evaluate the candidate using the remaining 80% of the job, the candidate ceased to be Hi-pro.

Paying attention to what is required for top performance is the first step in identifying and retaining Hi-pro employees.  Current jobs need to be broken down and examined to determine the three to five tasked that must be accomplished for top performance to be achieved.  They should then be reassembled to emphasize those critical performance factors.

What is Your Work Culture

The second step is getting a clear picture of the organization’s work culture.  How does work get accomplished in terms or control and supervision?  How much latitude do employees have to take calculated risks?  What happens when a mistake is made?  What is going to be the manager’s reaction?  This is a critical point because if mistakes are routinely punished Hi-Pro employees will leave because they are in the habit of taking calculated risks and sometimes make mistakes.

Get Clear on Top Performance

Do you want to keep your Hi-Pro employees?  Are you willing to invest your time and money to groom them as future leaders?  Then get clear on what Top Performance really is in your organization and start to build a culture that supports Hi-Pro employees.  Like anything of value it is going to take time and hard work, but it is so worth it for them and you.