Coaching for Mid-Tier Performance—Why Focusing on the Middle Really Pays Off

The story of performance improvement often focuses on extremes—celebrating stars, fire-fighting with strugglers. But a significant body of research upturns this intuition. When organizations invested in focused coaching for their 'middle 60 percent,' something remarkable happened: the whole average leapt upwards. The bottom and top barely budged, but the core group—often overlooked—felt the difference.

Managers at a large insurance firm piloted weekly skill-building sessions for these core reps: diagnosing phone calls, rehearsing new talk tracks, and reviewing real outcomes. Over several months, measured performance didn’t just tick up—the middle stretched, and some even joined the ranks of the top. Coaches kept track in simple notebooks, jotting observed behaviors, missed cues, and small wins.

Why does this work? Cognitive science suggests growth is most rapid when the challenge neither overwhelms nor bores. Core performers, given the right nudge and encouragement, move the furthest fastest. By concentrating development efforts here—and tracking changes in what people actually do, not just results—organizations efficiently raise the bar for everyone.

This month, take a close look at who sits around the middle of your team’s results. Make time for focused, behavioral coaching with these steady, but not yet standout, contributors. Rather than spreading attention evenly across all, guide them to tweak outlooks and daily skills in specific, observed ways. Keep close notes and measure not just if they 'win,' but what new actions they show. The lift you see in their performance will ripple through your numbers—and you’ll know exactly why.