What High Performers Want

Beginning in the mid-1990s, companies began competing intensely in the “War for Talent.” Driven by consulting firm McKinsey & Company, more and more organizations bought into the idea that in order to win against competitors, they first needed to win the competition for talent. And so, they began ramping up compensation plans and adding new benefits packages, all with the intention of finding and keeping top talent.

Decades-and billions of dollars in compensation packages-later, most organizations finally discovered the truth. Despite spending ever-increasing amounts of money on high performers, high performers weren’t really in it for the money.

And those who were lured in by high compensation weren’t really high performers.

In this article, we’ll outline some of the lessons learned about what actually attracts high performers to work on a team-and what keeps them engaged once they’re on board.

They Want To Be Heard

The first thing high performers want is to be heard. They want their ideas listened to, considered, and implemented-or if not implemented then they want to know (and learn from) why a different option was chosen. They want autonomy in their work in order to engage their knowledge, skills, and abilities in the way they’ve learned over time is the best course of action…