15 leaders on managing high performers

High performers can be a special breed, making an impact while producing greater volumes of work or outcomes. Managing them so they feel supported and not suffocated can make a difference in retaining them and keeping them happy. So it’s important to think hard about how best to do that, while understanding that how you manage them may not be how you manage the rest of your staff. We asked our Fast Company Impact Council members about their thinking: how they determine the most effective way to work with their top performers and whether that’s different than managing other staff members. Here’s what 15 of our members said.

1. DEEP TRUST

High performers achieve better results because they see the map differently. They see what other people don’t and work tirelessly to achieve outcomes. They understand what’s most important and focus on producing impactful results. How they work, when they work, and how it all comes together is typically unconventional. You can’t manage to fake deadlines or micromanage. It’s about deep trust. I’ve found that when the highest performers know they are supported, what they produce far outweighs any friction their working styles may create. The best advice is to get out of their way and allow their work to speak for itself. Because it always does. — Regan Parker, ShiftKey

2. HOLD TALENT ACCOUNTABLE TO THEIR POTENTIAL

My mantra here is: Hold talent accountable to their potential. You are pushing them from the perspective of achieving all that they can in their career. It doesn’t matter if they’re better than you; they’re not better than the best version of themselves. — Neil Barrie, 21st Century Brand

3. THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL FORMULA

Ideally, management strategies should be adapted to each individual. Even among high performers, needs vary. I’ve seen people thrive in highly autonomous environments and others excel within high-touch systems. There is no universal formula for managing top talent. — Bo Zhao, Baby Gear Group

4. DON’T FORGET THEM

My biggest lesson with high performers is: Don’t forget them. We naturally spend our time fixing problems at the bottom and supporting the middle, while assuming our stars will just get on with it. High performers still need managing. They want candid feedback, stretch opportunities, and a clear development plan. I’ve seen more great talent leave because they felt forgotten than because they felt overstretched. — Emily Kortlang, Yerba Madre

5. CREATE DETAILED SPECS AND ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

We only hire high performers. We get the best results for our clients that way, and everyone likes work more if they can trust their colleagues to be capable and reliable. At the same time, each hour of their time is expensive to the client, so we’re careful to keep them in their lane. Our management and QA teams create detailed spec requirements and acceptance criteria before assigning tasks to engineers. This way they can start building without the planning overhead. — Lindsey Witmer Collins, WLCM App Studio and Scribbly Books

6. LET THEM UNDERSTAND THE SYSTEM

Protecting your best people from organizational complexity feels like good leadership, but it is one of the most limiting things you can do to someone with real potential. The people who grow into enterprise scale impact are not just the most talented, they are the ones who understand the system they operate inside: the politics, the constraints, the places where good ideas lose momentum and why. I put high performers in difficult conversations deliberately, because craft alone does not teach organizational intelligence. At a certain level, craft is table stakes. What separates the best is knowing how to navigate everything surrounding it. — Arin Bhowmick, SAP

7. MENTOR AND UNLEASH THEM

High performers don’t need to be managed—they need to be unleashed. They’re motivated by autonomy, challenge, and growth. Give them a clear goal and the resources to get there. And get out of the way. Micromanage them and you’ll lose them. What they do need—and often don’t get—is mentorship. Because they’re delivering, leaders assume they don’t need guidance. They do. High performers benefit enormously from a thought partner and someone genuinely invested in their long-term growth. They’re always asking themselves whether this is still the right place to grow. Your job is to make the answer obvious. Invest in them before someone else does. — Meredith Rosenberg, NU Advisory Partners

8. TRUST WITHOUT FEEDBACK IS ABDICATION

The biggest thing I give a high performer is trust made visible—letting them make consequential decisions, defending their calls when it gets uncomfortable, and not hovering when results aren’t instant. But trust without feedback isn’t trust. It’s abdication. High performers need to know where the company’s bar is, not just their own. The ones who can hold both—their own high standards and honest external input—actually grow into great leaders themselves. A high performer who can’t receive feedback isn’t a high performer. They’re a high maintenance one. — Muneer Panjwani, Engage for Good | The Halo Awards

9. MANAGE SITUATIONALLY

I try not to manage all high performers the same way, rather I manage situationally. Some need more autonomy, some need harder problems. And some need help removing friction around them. In general, I’ve found they respond well when the goal is clear, the bar is high, and they have room to operate. My job is to challenge them, while giving them enough space to learn from failures without feeling abandoned. — Todd James, Aurora Insights LLC

10. PROVIDE BETTER CHALLENGES

I believe that high performers need better challenges. I focus on expanding their decision-making responsibility, exposing them to ambiguity, and creating a stronger sense of ownership. Burnout often comes from operating at a high level without enough reflection or purpose. Greater responsibility must be paired with space to recover and grow. — Ajay Tejasvi, TLEX

11. EXPECT EXCELLENCE, DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY

At the top, you want to be managing only high performers. Co-develop the strategic direction for their function; give agency; expect excellence and demand accountability; invest in them! — Hala Hanna, MIT Solve

12. CREATE ENVIRONMENT FOR HIGH PERFORMERS

I don’t believe in managing high performers differently—I believe in creating an environment where more people can become high performers. Leadership’s role is to identify individual strengths, provide opportunities for growth, and empower people to contribute in meaningful ways. When people feel trusted, heard, and connected to a shared purpose, performance tends to follow. — Susan Watts, SPACECRAFT

13. PROVIDE LARGER INCENTIVES

I give all performers positive incentives and the high performers get larger incentives, e.g. increasing commissions as volume goes up rather than decreasing commissions, which many organizations do — Larraine Segil, Exceptional Women Alliance Foundation

14. GIVE ROOM TO RUN

High performers usually aren’t lacking motivation. What wears them down is friction: too many approvals, too many meetings, and more responsibility without real authority. I’ve seen great operators disengage because they were being managed more, not trusted more. Give them something meaningful to own. Clear the obstacles. And then let them run. The best people do not need more supervision. They need room. — Andra Vaduva, SafeSpace

15. PROVIDE CLARITY AND REMOVE BARRIERS

High performers don’t need to be managed closely. They need to be trusted, challenged, and given the space to deliver. Leadership’s role is to provide clarity and remove barriers, while staying available without getting in the way. — Tony Bedard, Frontier Co-op