There are all sorts of problems percolating out there. Executives behaving badly, discrimination in the workplace. Lots of heavy stuff. There are certain simpler, avoidable mistakes you make on the long road of leadership growth that stick with you too.

One particularly acute personal example was when one of the top people on my team received a promotion and big raise. But they didn’t find out for weeks. Not even before payroll hit. Totally forgot to tell them.

Why? It was a little bit of this. A little bit of that. Clearly time was misallocated dealing with a problem and others who weren’t performing nearly as well. Like a double edged sword, the 80/2o rule cuts both ways. If 80% of your value comes from 20% of your customers, then 80% of your problems come from 20% of your people too. We talk enough about those things here.

What about the best people on your team? What do you do to celebrate them, make them feel appreciated, and motivated to keep reaching new heights? Not enough, usually. Here are a few simple ideas to keep the momentum flowing:

Give them praise for a specific example of when they did a great job
The more specific, the better. The best team members thrive on feedback and demand more of it to keep improving. Coach them up and they’ll return the favor with greater effort.

Celebrate them publicly
Is there an upcoming team meeting or visible gathering where you could give them kudos on a job well done? Even if it’s quick and informal, it can go a long way. And, it’s free!

Bring them onto one of your projects
Give them the opportunity to get their hands dirty alongside yours with a project you’re working on that’s visible and high impact. You can work together on it, delegate some, and give them the credit when completed!

Tell them to take a Friday afternoon off
They’re the ones that usually won’t ask for it so encourage them to split early on one of these summer Fridays. It’s a cheap and easy way to show appreciation..with appropriate discretion.

When you’ve got talent in your midst, don’t de-prioritize them like some other dum dum leaders who will remain nameless… Feed the beast. They need it and you can always use more help carrying the load.