For many teams and their managers, a high achiever can be as much of a headache as a low achiever. However, with the right approach, such a person can be an asset to the team and every individual member of it, as well as to the manager, the customers, and the company.

For this to happen, the manager must see the high achiever as an opportunity instead of a threat. Sadly, some less-savvy managers view the high competence of an underling as a threat to their position. The reality is that a subordinate nearly always wants to please the boss rather than replace the boss. However, in seeing the person as a threat, the insecure boss may engage in these counterproductive measures:

• If the company uses a performance appraisal system, insert a “poison pill” of unwarranted criticism while downplaying the positives. The idea here is to constrain the employee’s ambition. However, what usually happens is the employee feels so badly treated he takes his skills, hard work ethic, and insights to another employer. You are, in essence, handing a competitive edge to a competitor.
• Dismiss a person’s ideas and suggestions out of hand. If this person has an idea to reduce lost revenue by $50,000 per year but you don’t listen, how is that any different from deliberately shutting down equipment and standing there with a stopwatch until you’ve caused $50,000 in lost revenue?
• Deny the employee additional training. The idea here is to “not make this person’s ego any bigger.” It is unlikely to have that effect, but it is likely to breed discontent and disengagement.
• Use putdowns or other slights to put the employee in his place. Injecting this kind of negative energy into a work relationship creates a hostile environment, which can be a career-ender for the manager.
• Assign him work he’s not particularly good at, so he will underperform at it. While the intention may be to teach this person a lesson in being humble, this is not the way to do it. This way can result in disciplinary action against the manager if things go sideways. At the very least, it’s going to disgruntle the employee.
• Assign him more than his share of grunt work. This is another way some managers try to “rein in” a high achiever. When stellar work is “rewarded” this way, what’s the message to the rest of the team?

Instead:

• Make the performance appraisal factual and honest. Use the time between appraisals to discuss needed areas of improvement and to coach the employee. This builds loyalty not just to the company, but to you personally. It is part of building a great team and being a great manager.
• Listen to this person’s ideas. High achievers often have great ideas. They are high achievers because they possess a passion for the work and think about how best to do it. Why throw it away? A bonus from listening is you validate that person as a contributing team member. It typically improves the performance of the team overall, because everyone sees this reward for being an engaged employee.
• Ensure each employee has an appropriate training program. It needs to be geared toward supporting mutually agreed upon goals.
• Assign people work for which they are qualified and (where practical) in which they have enough experience to perform it without supervision. Setting someone up to fail is never good for that person, the team, the manager, or the company. Stretch goals are good, so there’s no problem in assigning a person work requiring above-average effort. Be when setting stretch goals, you must make it clear this person is required to ask for help when needed. Also, when setting stretch goals with a work assignment, the manager or a designee must provide some oversight to ensure the employee is getting the proper support and is asking when unsure.
• Manage perception. Grunt work has to be done. The problem is nobody likes being the grunt. So, change the perception. In one shop, sweeping the floor was elevated to a position of honor. Only the most senior people were allowed to do it. In another shop, motor lubrication had been perceived of as a grunt job and it was done poorly. Two people were sent to lubrication school, which was a half-day course. They were then the only people allowed to perform motor lubrication and somehow motor lubrication errors no longer happened. Never use any maintenance job as a punishment or as a means of diminishing employee stature.

Of course, a person who only thinks he is a high achiever can be a problem. So can an overly ambitious or overly confident person of any skill level. Help such people with semi-frequent, informal discussions of their expectations and yours. This gets everyone on the same page.