Want to Keep Your A-Players? Coach and Develop Them for a Great Future!

Think about one of your top A-Players. This is a person who not only performs well but also embodies your core values with their behavior. If they are a manager, they increase joy and productivity in the team they lead, which in turn creates happy and satisfied customers.

Imagine if this person came to you tomorrow and submitted their letter of resignation. How seriously would the team, the customers, and the company be impacted if they left? How long would it take to hire or train another person to reach their level of competency and organizational knowledge?

Does this thought make you afraid or maybe even a little panicked? Good. Don’t take this employee—or any of your A-Players—for granted. It’s a competitive talent market. Compensation plays a key role in retention, but employees are also voting with their hearts, not just their wallets. As Gallup’s Q12 tells us, employees want to feel cared for, and they want to know that their manager takes their development seriously.

One of the most effective things you can do to keep your A-Players is to coach them towards a strong career with you. Show that you are genuinely interested in their growth and provide coaching to accelerate their development opportunities.

Change Employee Mindsets Around Coaching

Many people have a negative perception regarding coaching. They think, “If you are choosing me for coaching, I must be doing poorly.” To counter this, you may need to help your employee mentally reframe coaching as a gift to accelerate their career, not a precaution to avoid failure.

First, let them know that you care about their development and learn more about what they are interested in from a career growth perspective. Discuss and explore what they need to learn to achieve their aspirations. Get them excited about a future with you!

Next, assure them that you believe in investing in people who deliver strong results. This philosophy is similar to investing in stocks. You pick a good stock that is already making you money and invest in it further rather than picking a stock that is doing poorly and hoping it will rise. You have done the same by choosing this employee. Since they are already successful, you want to help them deliver an even stronger contribution to the company.

Co-Own Employee Growth

Ask your employee to own the coaching plan or process. They should understand and agree to the type of coaching and cadence of sessions they are going to receive. They should also set their own development goals that they aim to achieve through coaching.

If you are not the person coaching them, schedule a time to check in about how it’s going. Do they feel on track to reach their development goals? If they have questions or concerns, take those seriously and respond promptly.

Start Today

If you present it properly, your A-Players will take the offer to be coached as a compliment. They will seize the opportunity to multiply their current achievements and grow the career they’ve been dreaming of. The coaching program will help them see just how much they are valued and cared for at the company, which will increase their likelihood of staying with you for the journey ahead—and they will be better prepared to accompany you on that journey.