8 Qualities of Exceptional Employees

For many companies, they look for exceptional characteristics when hiring for a position. But ensuring you keep your best asset (your work force) to maintain their incredible qualities is imperative for engagement and employee retention. 

Whether you implement these as part of a performance review metric, establish a peer-to-peer recognition program, or appreciate your employees in a public setting, we encourage you to communicate to your employees these are the characteristics you're looking for within your culture.

What Are the 8 Qualities of Exceptional Employees?

1. Innovative

For companies, most great ideas for growing and gaining profits aren’t found online or hiding under rocks. They come from the people who think outside-the-box and fight for a spot on the map. Steve Jobs (Apple Inc.) once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower,” which brings us to our next exceptional quality, leadership.

2. Leadership

Those who step-up, take initiative and are willing to lead others can and will have phenomenal results for a company. Lou Aldler stated, “The big point of this is that clever thinking alone is not leadership. A pattern of delivering on the vision, despite the challenges, is what true leadership is really about”.

3. Intelligence Over Experience

Let’s be clear here, experience is definitely a valuable trait. But, an intelligent employee can quickly learn a job and perform more efficiently, more-so-than-not, than someone less intelligent who has more experience. Cross training and employee development modules can increase intelligence for your tenured employees.

4. Teamwork

So much of what we do involves collaboration among one another. The best employees put the interests of the company above their own and are excited to share ideas and information that will better the company as a whole. Employees who can work well with in teams are a definite homerun.

5. Motivated

Take a moment and picture your team, branch or closest coworker. How would you feel if they threw you under the bus, lied, or didn’t give credit where credit was due? It would be safe to say, you’d feel like a knife was launched into your back. Being honest is a code of conduct that every exceptional employee abides by.

8. Learners

Anyone will consider themselves as a learner. However, exceptional employees are those who never stop asking questions, going to seminars, downloading audios, and reading books. All-in-all, these employees never want to stop leading or staying ahead of the curve.

Retaining Exceptional Employees

Now ask yourself, do I make the list? Do my current employees make the list? If they do, how do I hold onto employees like this? Whether you’re a CEO, a manger, a new hire, or have been with the same company for decades, being an exceptional employee should always stay at the top of your priorities.

Many companies that have employees with these exceptional qualities don’t want to lose them but don’t know how to keep them? Here at Energy 2 Engage we have answers!

The key is Employee Engagement. Recognizing employees for a job well-done and putting in effort makes them feel valued and continue working their hardest. Rewarding employees (with what they want) for doing their best and partaking in behaviors will lead both to employee and company success.