Page 179 - Retaining Top Employees

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The Role of the Manager, Part 1 167

Providing a Buffer

By their nature, top employees appear on the organizational
“radar screen” more than other employees. They’re discussed
at management meetings, involved in decision-making, chosen
for committees, stopped in corridors, included in e-mail circula-
tion lists, volunteered for extracurricular activities, and so on.
All of this is flattering (and, in many cases, helpful and posi-
tive), but the cumulative effect can be unproductive (for both
the organization and the employees) and, at the extreme, claus-
trophobic for the employees. Interruptions and distractions will
ultimately cause the employees to lose their focus. For top per-
formers, this usually caus-
es a sense of being unful- Beware of the
filled and, ultimately, a Peter Principle
feeling of failure. Thus, This is a variant of the
attention that begins with Peter Principle.You’re likely familiar
the desire to involve and with the concept,described by
include employees can end Laurence J. Peter in The Peter Principle
(William Morrow,1969),that employ-
with losing them entirely.
ees who prove competent in the
It’s essential to monitor
tasks assigned to them get promoted,
your top performers’ inter- until they reach positions where
actions with senior man- they’re no longer competent—and
agement (and anyone else they tend to stay there.
who can impose on your Top employees who attract atten-
employees) and to protect tion may find that their performance
your employees from suffers because they’re less able to
focus their time and energy on their
being overwhelmed,
jobs. It’s up to you to help them per-
swamped, or distracted. As
form to their potential.
a manager, you’re respon-
sible for ensuring an envi-
ronment in which all of your employees can work to the best of
their abilities—and that includes protecting your top performers
against those who would take their time and energy.