Chris Collins argues managers should reward both the top technician and the most improved one equally. This approach lifts the bottom third of your team by creating social motivation. He recommends setting minimum requirements by starting at the end and working backwards to make expectations clear.
What's equally as important is have two big carrots, one for the top dog, and two, the second big carrot is for the most improved. And if you're working on that bottom third, you make a big deal out of whoever is most improved. It's just as big a deal as the guy that's top dog every month. And if everybody's drinking the wine a little bit, you'll watch it, kinda. And those conversations, what I find with the bottom third, a lot of times too, you know, it's. It's funny. Even when people don't necessarily have as much drive or competition as some of their peers, a lot of times they'll do for the group what they won't do for themselves. And I can't tell you how many of those minimum requirement conversations that I've had where, you know, I'm talking to them and they're like, yeah, you know, okay, I see that. I can probably do that. And those conversations got a lot different when I started at the end and worked backwards.
