Sparking Leadership #12: The silent engines on your team are often the unsung heroes 🦸

Some time ago, I worked with a CEO who was obsessed with the 9-box performance grid. It's the one where you plot each employee based on their performance in strict little boxes like "star" or "high performer".

Every leadership meeting seemed to revolve around identifying those "high potentials" or "top talent"- those shiny individuals lighting up the top right corner. And yes, they're important.

But what about the others? The people who just get stuff done. They clock in, do the work, rarely cause a fuss, and are quietly, consistently, indispensable.

👉 Rockstars Vs Workhorses

It's an easy trap to fall into: our attention naturally gravitates towards the loudest, the newest, or those on the steepest upward trajectory. We celebrate the "rockstars" and the innovators, pouring development resources into them.

Meanwhile, the "workhorses":

✅Keep the lights on: They are the operational stability, the process adherence, the institutional knowledge.

✅Bring consistency: You know their output will be reliable, day in and day out.

✅Demand less attention: They don't usually ask for promotions every six months or push for big, flashy projects.

⚖️ The value of consistency

Underestimating the value of consistency is a common leadership blind spot. When we focus disproportionately on potential, we often forget the enormous, quiet ROI of reliable execution.

If your "silent engines" feel undervalued, their consistent effort can turn into quiet disengagement. And when such a core contributor leaves, the vacuum they create is often far greater than anticipated with processes breaking and morale dropping.

🛠️ How to fix the blind spot

🏆Explicit recognition: Don't assume they know they're valued. A simple, "Thank you for your incredible consistency. It makes a huge difference," goes further than you think. Acknowledge their specific impact on stability and reliability.

📒Invest differently: Their growth might not be upward, but outward. Think specialized training in their domain, making them a go-to expert, or having them mentor others.

☔Protect their workload: Because they're reliable, we often pile more on them. Be vigilant against burnout. Reliability is a gift, not a burden to be exploited.

🦉Learn from their wisdom: They hold valuable insight into how things work. Involve them in process improvements.

❓Question for you

I'm not crazy about the term "workhorse" so how about "Atlas"? The people that silently carry the weight without complaints. So, who is the Atlas on your team? And what cracks would start to show if they decided to leave?

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🌟Sparking Leadership is a weekly series on human-centered, sustainable

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