Are you a superstar employee? Do you strive to be one, or did you used to aspire to be one? On the flip side, do you manage a superstar employee (or several)?
For a lot of people, I know, in the years after the pandemic, life became more about working to live than living to work. We talked about disengaging instead of quitting, and shared tips on staying engaged with your career.
Against this background, you wouldn’t think it would be hard to stand out if you were still interested in being a superstar employee — but The Wall Street Journal (gift link) recently had an article for managers on “whether “superstar employees are worth it.” I was particularly intrigued to see that career experts have identified an ideal career “evolution” for such superstar employees, “to get the most out of stars.”
Superstar Employees: The Solo Years
The researchers found that young stars had great output (in one study, measured by comparing numbers of patents amongst employees) that “peaked at 20 to 25 years into their career, with an average 35% drop in output every 10 years therafter.”
During this “establishment” phase, they postulated that employees were trying to make a name for themselves, and managers’ should “shield them from distracting tasks and red tape [with a support team or assistant to take care of everyday work]. Leaders should also give young stars a lot of leeway, giving them assignments that play to their strengths and aspirations, keeping them invigorated. And stars should get exclusive access to senior leadership as mentors.”
(This is also interesting because I wonder who wouldn’t excel given those tools, especially compared to peers who don’t have the same perks.)
After the Superstar’s Peak
But, as noted, superstar employees peak — at least as far as solo work is concerned. The studies showed that superstar employees could become great mentors and experts, and in studies were more motivated to mentor. They suggested that bosses should give these fading superstars “formal training and coaching for that role. They should collaborate with stars to figure out how the top performers want to transition to a leadership role.”
They continued,
Then, bosses should put stars alongside younger, high-potential employees, and reward them for both their own output and their positive impact on mentees’ performance and retention. Bosses might also track stars’ performance with metrics like the number of promotions among mentees and improvement in mentees’ performance rating.
Have you found that your careers have evolved this way, readers? If you manage people, do you recognize these evolutionary steps? Do you find that people get “stuck” at certain stages, or fail to make the leaps, either due to burn out, a changed attitude, or more? How do you think this specifically plays out for women in the workplace?
Vector illustration via Deposit Photos / Soifer.
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