Can you give an example of how you approach managing top talent on your team differently?

Question

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I manage my top performers by giving them opportunities to stretch beyond their
current responsibilities. For example, one engineer who was consistently strong
in delivery was ready for more scope, so I asked them to lead a project
end-to-end, including stakeholder communication and risk management. By doing
this, they not only demonstrated technical strength but also developed
leadership skills. I stay close to provide feedback and ensure they are
challenged in the right way.

Anonymous · Answer

In my team at TikTok Shop, we handle complex direct-to-consumer integrations
that require both strong technical execution and effective cross-functional
collaboration. I had two mid-level engineers who showed high potential but had
very different strengths.

Task
My role was to manage them differently so that each could stretch beyond their
comfort zone and grow toward the next level of impact.

Action

* For the engineer strong in cross-functional collaboration but less technical
   depth, I gave him ownership of the Brazil new-market expansion. This
   broadened his scope and required him to lead stakeholders, call out risks,
   and coordinate across verticals. I also encouraged him to deepen his
   technical involvement to balance his profile.

* For the engineer with outstanding technical skills but weaker XFN
   communication, I focused on coaching him around stakeholder updates and risk
   management. I paired him with more external-facing responsibilities and gave
   him frequent feedback in 1:1s.

Result

* The first engineer successfully drove the Brazil expansion end-to-end, earned
   strong stakeholder feedback, and was promoted to senior.

* The second engineer made technical contributions but needed more time to
   demonstrate consistent communication and end-to-end ownership, so I decided
   to observe him for another cycle before promotion.
   Overall, this reinforced my belief that top performers need tailored growth
   paths: some need broader scope, others need focused coaching. By setting
   stretch goals and monitoring progress closely, I could accelerate their
   development in a way aligned with business needs.

Anonymous · Answer

My leadership style in based on the 3 pillars:

1) Coach: I ensure that each of the team members understand the company values,
team's charter, mission statement and culture. This also includes ensuring I, as
the leader demonstrate these values every day and showcase them during decision
making process to be consistent. I work with the team members using 1:1s, team
meetings and team reviews that these are shared even for new hires and take a
pule on how these are being used effectively.

2) Support: I encourage the team members to come with ideas rather than me
telling them what to do. For example, the areas in the architecture that can be
improved in a forward looking outlook, metrics we can add for better
observability. I reiterate that as a leader I play the role of the facilitator
to help prioritize the right things, remove roadblocks towards achieving the
individual and team's shared goals.

3) Develop: I do not like micromanaging each and every member's work. I work
with them to ensure they have earned a certain amount of trust and self
confidence when dealing with stakeholders and then let them go on their own to
meetings, make small decisions to start with.

With this in mind, for the high performers in the team, I like to understand
their motivations first. That is to fully understand what makes them most
effective, the kind of areas they like to work on. Second, I discuss their self
assessment of strengths with what my, other team members and stakeholders
assessment. This helps them in getting better understanding of their strengths
and areas of growth. Second, I have in depth discussions on the goals (personal
and professional) both short and long term. I use these signals to steer them
towards projects and work items that will not only help them produce their best
work but also items that would stretch them occasionally. I collect data points
from these projects to have bidirectional feedback using 1:1s to have a shared
agreement on progress being made towards the goals, pivots that might be needed,
lessons learned that will help them for future. The key piece for top performers
is to ensure they get challenged and stretched regularly while getting timely,
relevant and direct feedback for constant growth while acknowledging the wins to
reenforce their areas of strength.

Anonymous · Answer

What I have noticed consistently about top performs in my teams is that they
have a greater sense of ownership. They are also more passionate about the
problem at hand. What I find helpful to keep this fire lit is to give them more
space with the assurance of a safety net. I have this one highly motivated
person on my current team. She thrives on creative problem solving. I let her
work with our stakeholders directly with periodic check-ins to see if she needs
any support or discuss the plan she is building. I also check in with my
stakeholders to make sure, work is moving along and they are happy. If all goes
well, I let her run things on her own. At the end of major milestones, I will
ask her to do a demo or presentation on her project. This has a two-fold
benefit: Firstly, she is building her brand as being a business problem solver
and secondly, it holds the rest of the team to a higher standard that they see
in action. I've seen a few junior or newer team mates take on more ownership
having seen her set an example.

Anonymous · Answer

The key to manage people is understanding their personal context first - what
motivates them, what they value and what's the growth path they are aspiring
for.

By knowing, personalised mentoring and coaching for top performers can happen.
Specifically to manage top performers:

* Acknowledging their work.

* By giving them new challenges to work on that aligns with their aspirations

* Through continuous mentoring and showing them their growth path, like
   delegating a part of their next role will instil great confidence in top
   performers that the organisation is taking care of their growth.

Anonymous · Answer

I challenge them with stretch projects to grow them further and put them out of
their comfort zone. I also try to ensure that their efforts are visible and
recognized and they are an example to the team

Anonymous · Answer

In my Last few roles when i was leading/managing multiple project, i observed
one thing about high performer they need complex problems, ownership and freedom
to implement approaches which seems impossible.
As a manager, i have to ensure top performers are getting challenging work which
keeps them motivated and also helps project to deliver new innovative ideas. In
my managing style, i always categorize my team in multiple types, leaders,
followers, challengers (top performers). I assign all complex and challenging
work to top performers and frequently check with them if they are enjoying work
and require any changes in case of feeling overwhelmed.
As a result top performers feel competitive and learn new things which keeps
them happy and ahead in their field and this helps project to deliver complex
work.

Anonymous · Answer

Managing top performers is a very important work an EM needs to do.
The first thing I do is keeping the high performer motivated. I would have
conversations around their career goals, what motivates them, what challenges
they want to tackle and etc during our 1:1s. Based on those, I will make plans
and assign the high performer to the right projects so they can get challenged ,
pushing them to grow more and make bigger impact while staying motivated.
The next thing I would do is making sure their work is being recognized. I will
try to recognize their work publicly within the team, to stakeholders and
leaderships. While this is something I actually do for everyone, I will
especially make sure their works are being recognized and called out by
stakeholders and leaderships.
One last thing I would do is making sure the high performer is not getting
burned out. High performers cannot just keep high performing 100% of the time. I
keep my eyes on their projects, their performances, and make sure to remind them
manage their time and don't let them selves to burn out.

Anonymous · Answer

* By first acknowledging their work.

* By giving them new challenges to work on.

* Through continuous mentoring and showing them their growth path

Can you give an example of how you approach managing top talent on your team differently?

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