How To Become A Top Performer In Any Field

10 Minute Read

What makes a great employee?

Dare I say, the fact that you're reading an article about the topic of becoming a top performer in your field, puts you among those who are great employees. One of the reasons I know this to be true is because one characteristic of a top performer is the desire to get better; status quo isn't an option.

Additionally, I have identified 6 more characteristics or abilities that are often found in top performers.

1. Ask Great Questions

Did you know there are people in the world who collect questions? It's true. I'm one of those people. I have collected pages of questions over the years. Some that I've discovered in books and articles, and others from having really intentional conversations with people. These days, you can even buy decks of cards filled with different questions that span a variety of categories to help you become a better question asker. But what's the power behind asking great questions?

Empathy.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathy is crucial to the lives we live and the work we do because it leads to broadening our perspective, as well as building and maintaining relationships.

Whenever I lead a brainstorm meeting, I will often set up the meeting by highlighting the fact that we’re about to engage in what I call “collective wisdom.” This is the act of inviting people into the mix who have different personalities, skills, and life experiences, which allows us to combine our superpowers to accomplish more together than we could on our own. But we have to get to know those people in order to do this well, and we often do that by asking questions in order to discover and understand their perspective.

The ability to ask questions and to cultivate empathy will either make or break our personal and professional relationships. Period.

2. Aptitude For Learning

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again and again: Leaders are Learners. Becoming a top performer has to do with your ability and aptitude to keep growing in both your soft skills and hard skills. Whether that’s through formal in-school education and training, coaching, books, videos, mentors, conferences, or blogs and articles.

Top performers are driven to learn the next perspective, to polish up their skills, and to try new things that stretch their abilities.

When was the last time you read a book or a blog, watched a training video, talked with someone who has been in the game longer than you, or attended a conference? If it’s been awhile, start today. You could set a goal to either read one blog post, one chapter, or watch one video everyday. If you do this, even if it's just for 15-30 minutes a day, you will be taking intentional steps to learn and grow your life and leadership.

3. Ability To Flex

Flexibility is a prized characteristic of a top performer because people who have the ability to flex are those who are able to adjust to the unexpected quickly and calmly, as well as take on more responsibility for a short period of time.

For instance, when a project hits a wall and you must find a solution to the problem quickly while keeping the client and your team calm, that’s the ability to flex as you find the fix that’s needed. Another example that many of us have had to contend with is taking up the slack when someone on our team leaves. This kind of flexing could be visualized by imagining each person on your team holding weights; these weights represent their responsibilities. When one person leaves, those weights / responsibilities have to be carried by someone else, which means one or a few people will, for a short period of time, need to flex their abilities in order to take on more.

Therefore, the ability to flex is important for a top performer because flexibility keeps things moving forward no matter what kind of obstacles come your way. Employers want flexible people on their teams.

4. Apply Feedback Quickly

Feedback is one of the most vital components to our life and leadership. Top performers thrive when they accept, seek out, and apply the feedback they receive. How are you doing in this area? When was the last time you received feedback from someone and you were quick to apply it? If you have a hard time answering that question, then it’s been too long.

Now, a very important note here: as a top performer, you need people who give consistent feedback, and who come alongside you on a consistent basis to tell you the areas where you’re excelling and the areas where you can use some work. The key is consistency. Additionally, you need someone who is willing to give you specific, actionable feedback; not a mere, “Hey, great job on the presentation today!” A pat on the back is great, but we need to go deeper than that. We need to find out what was great about it! When this happens to you, don’t be shy, it’s best to speak up and say something like, “Thanks so much for saying that. Hey, if you have time, and you’d be willing to share, I would love to hear some of the things that made it a great presentation. I’m always looking for ways to grow and refine my skills, so I’d appreciate your feedback!” Top performers do this.

If you don’t have someone in your life giving you consistent feedback, you need to find someone ASAP.

If your boss isn’t giving you feedback on their own, then lead up, and ask them if they can share (1) areas you're doing a good job, and (2) areas they’d like you to develop more. Another great way to get feedback is from your peers, the people you work alongside everyday. More than anyone, they may be the people best positioned to give you really practical feedback.

Additionally, another source for feedback would be to find yourself a leadership coach, someone who can come into the situations you’re facing in your life and leadership, as a neutral third-party. If you find yourself a great coach, you’ll see how beneficial this neutral perspective can be when you need someone to think logically and not emotionally about a hard situation or big decision.

Seek out feedback. Accept feedback when it’s given. Apply feedback quickly. This will set you apart as a top performer.

5. Advance Your Team

You might read that and think to yourself, “Wait, I thought top performers are focused on advancing themselves?”

My personal experience, based on how I've lived and led over the years, and based on what I've observed of others over the years, is that the act of only focusing on advancing yourself, will be a sure way to stunt your growth as a person, and your movement upwards as a leader.

Why is that? Because no one wants to work alongside or work for someone who is always and only looking out for themselves. People want to work for someone who has the confident self-awareness and others-awareness to say things like this:

• "[NAME] excels at building teams. I think they should run point this time."

• "That's a great idea. I think you should be the one to present it to leadership. You don't need me to present it on behalf of our team, I support you doing it."

• "Hey [NAME], would you like to lead our team meeting today? I think it would be great practice for you and I think the team will benefit from hearing from you."

The point here is to be aware of what your team is going through or what they're working towards, be aware of where people are thriving and where they need encouragement to grow, and then look for opportunities to step in to help them succeed. This kind of behavior pays off big time. It elevates team collaboration and it strengthens relationships. It removes the stories that people craft in their mind when they see you always and only ever focusing on your own stuff.

Be an advocate, a team player, and a champion of others.

6. Assert Yourself

When you look up the definition of "Assert," there are two words found in the variations that describe what it means to assert oneself. Those two words are "confident" and "forceful." Let me share a story to illustrate the confusion that is usually associated with being assertive.

A handful of years ago, I caught wind of a situation that unfolded due to a misunderstanding between the parties involved, and when I became aware of this, I very confidently stated how I was going to resolve the issue. When my then supervisor overheard me, they called me into their office and asked, "Are you ok?" To which I responded, "Yes. Why do you ask?" They responded with, "Well, you came across very assertive back there and that's not like you; you seem upset."

Honestly, I was taken back by their comment. They completely misread my emotions and my motivation. But I had to remind myself that this person was newer and didn't know me well (case in point why they should have asked more questions to understand my emotions and motivation clearly before judging incorrectly, but we'll save that for another time!). My response back to them went like this: "I'm sorry you misread what I said as anger. I'm not upset at all. I'm just confident in what needs to happen in order to resolve the issue on behalf of everyone involved, and so that's what I'm going to do. But I will do so with respect and with care, don't worry."

See, my then supervisor associated "assertiveness" with "forcefulness." Being assertive was a bad characteristic in their mind. And many others might think this way as well.

If you happen to think of assertiveness in this way, then I hope to shift your thinking. Instead, when you think of asserting yourself, think of acting and speaking confidently. When you know how something should be done, confidently state it. When you see something that no one else see, confidently bring it up. When you have an idea, confidently present it. Trust your skill, your knowledge, and your experience.

Now, I have one big caveat to this. Your confidence must be a HUMBLE CONFIDENCE. We don't see those two words next to each other often, right? That's the beauty of it. A humble confidence is a respectful and noble confidence in yourself, but also in the fact that when you state your solution or idea confidently, you are aware of the fact that there are others, who just like you, are skilled, knowledgeable, and come with a wealth of experience. This means that you must have the confidence to speak and act, but also the humility to hear from others and to take into consideration that their ideas and solutions might be best for that particular problem or project.

Assert yourself with humble confidence.

If you can consistently incorporate these 6 characteristics into your life and leadership, people will begin to see you as a top performer; as someone who is competent and capable of leading your team and organization well.

Want some help in these areas?
I coach and consult with individuals and teams to grow in these areas on a regular basis, and I would love to help you experience growth as well. Book a FREE 30-minute call with me today.

Cheering you on!
-Nicole Lucas