Why Your ‘Hardest Workers’ May Be Holding Your Company Back
I managed teams for one of the world’s most elite investment firms. I saw how often leaders rewarded the wrong behavior, and limited the company’s potential.
This story appears in the January 2026 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
Are you rewarding the right people on your team? You may not be. Consider these two scenarios:
Scenario #1: Your star employee works 60-hour weeks, responds to emails at midnight, and never misses a meeting. You love their hustle. But their projects consistently miss deadlines, and their deliverables fall short.
Scenario #2: Your top salesperson consistently lands giant contracts and beats targets by 150% — but only works 30 hours a week. You often wonder why they aren’t working harder.
Now, the question: Which one do you reward?
Most leaders still equate “value” with “time spent on the job” — even though workers can deliver incredible value in infinite ways. To build a thriving team, we must shift from time-based to outcome-based thinking. Because effort without results is just expensive activity.
Related: Only 21% of Employees Are Engaged at Work. Here’s How Leaders Can Turn Things Around.
I help corporate leaders do this through my company, MGMT Accelerator. Here’s the playbook we use.
1. What to reward people for
The “Early Bird” Praise
→ Stop celebrating who gets to the office first.
→ Start celebrating who solves problems fastest.
The “Always Available” Reward
→ Stop promoting people who answer emails at midnight.
→ Start promoting people who prevent midnight emergencies.
The “Meeting Champion” Recognition
→ Stop praising perfect meeting attendance.
→ Start praising people who eliminate unnecessary meetings.
The “Busy = Important” Award
→ Stop assuming overwhelmed people are your best performers.
→ Start realizing they might be your least efficient.
2. How to measure goals
Use the “SMART-R” method:
S → Specific
M → Measurable
A → Actionable
R → Realistic
T → Time-bound
R → Real results
Related: The Leadership Practice That Dramatically Improves Employee Retention and Performance
3. Getting your team to buy in
Workers need to know what’s important. Here are conversation frameworks to use.
Start with their frustration
Ask: “What’s the most frustrating part of your current workload?” (They’ll likely say: “I work really hard, but I don’t feel like I’m making progress.”)
Connect to their goals
Ask: “What would you rather be judged on: how many hours you work or the impact you create?” (They’ll likely say results.)
Address the fear
Ask: “I know this feels risky. What if you have a bad week? We’ll look at patterns over time, not daily fluctuations. And we’ll help you succeed, not catch you failing.”
Make it concrete
“Instead of tracking your hours, we’ll track [specific outcome]. You’ll have complete flexibility in how you achieve it.”
4. Getting others to buy in
To make this shift, you’ll need everyone on board — including your management team. Here’s how.
Frame the problem/“We’re losing our best people, because they’re frustrated carrying underperformers who look busy but don’t deliver.”
Show the cost: “Our top performer in sales works 30 hours a week and generates $2 million annually. Our ‘hardest worker’ puts in 60 hours and generates $800K. We’re rewarding the wrong behavior.”
Propose the test: “Let me experiment with outcome-based management with my team for 90 days. I’ll track both effort and results so we can compare.”
Related: I Treated My Employees Like Friends — and It Backfired. Here’s How You Can Avoid the Same Mistake.
5. What ‘success’ could look like
Software Development
→ Deploy feature X by date Y with Z performance criteria.
→ Reduce bug reports by 50% this quarter.
→ Complete code reviews within 24 hours.
Sales
→ Generate $500K qualified pipeline monthly.
→ Close 25% of qualified opportunities.
→ Maintain a 90% or higher customer satisfaction rate post sale.
Customer Service
→ Resolve 90% of issues on first contact.
→ Maintain 4.5+ satisfaction rating.
→ Reduce escalations by 30%.
6. Handling the transition
How to actually implement the shift:
Week 1: Set clear expectations.
“Starting Monday, success means [specific outcome] by [specific date]. How you achieve it is up to you.”
WeekS 2-4: Support, don’t monitor.
Check in on obstacles, not hours. Ask “What do you need to succeed?” not “How many hours did you work?”
Month 2: Address issues early.
If someone’s struggling, diagnose why. Skill gap? Unclear expectations? External obstacles? Fix the root cause.
Month 3: Celebrate success stories.
Share examples of people who thrived with outcome-based management. Make it the new normal.
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Are you rewarding the right people on your team? You may not be. Consider these two scenarios:
Scenario #1: Your star employee works 60-hour weeks, responds to emails at midnight, and never misses a meeting. You love their hustle. But their projects consistently miss deadlines, and their deliverables fall short.
Scenario #2: Your top salesperson consistently lands giant contracts and beats targets by 150% — but only works 30 hours a week. You often wonder why they aren’t working harder.
