Will Last Years Top Performers Be This Years Top Performers?

Does this question ever really get debated in any real depth - or do managers tend to presume that the answer is yes, and move on to what they perceive to be bigger priorities? However, those priorities could change swiftly and dramatically if last years top performers were to go "off the boil" this year!

Whilst those who performed well last year may be naturally gifted and motivated people, they still need to be managed, encouraged and coached in order to sustain a high performance over the longer term. It would be a mistake to treat them as 'nailed on' performers for the coming year - in fact we may need to support them as much as our weaker performers over the next few weeks. We should pay particular attention to the subtle changes that may be needed to ensure we get a repeat of 2010 performance in 2011.

Most business plans will change, albeit slightly in many cases, from one year to the next. Emphasis may switch to different products, markets or delivery channels - and as the game changes so does the way we need to play it to maintain high performance. The transition of our top performers through this period of subtle change can prove to be 'blind spot' if we simply leave them to it.

Top performers work out their success formula and are able to apply it consistently week after week and month after month. They can find it tough to achieve this year after year though because of the game changes made in business focus - and they find to their cost that doing things that have worked really well in the past don’t always work as well in the future. They can easily get frustrated, wondering why the results are not coming in when they haven't changed their approach which has always been successful in the past. But that could be the issue - not changing may have been the only mistake they made.

Genuine top performers are very capable of working out what the subtle changes are that will help them to sustain their high performance in 2011. But just in case they need our help, it is still worth us spending some time pondering the question - will last years top performers be this years top performers in my team?