The Four Types of Employees: Stars, Departed, Headaches, and Heartaches

 I've been managing teams for over a decade now, and I've come to realize that every employee falls into one of four distinct categories. It took me years to figure this out, and once I did, it completely changed how I approach leadership. Let me share this framework with you because it might save you the headaches I went through learning it the hard way.

Think of it as a simple matrix. On one axis, you plot performance—how well someone actually does their job. On the other axis, you measure values—how well they embrace and demonstrate your organization's core principles. When you combine these two dimensions, you get four very different types of employees, each requiring a completely different management approach.

The Stars: Your High Performers Who Get It

In the upper right corner of this matrix live your stars—people who deliver excellent performance while fully embracing your company's values. These are your dream employees, and here's my confession: I used to take them for granted.

I thought, "They're doing great, they know they're doing great, so I'll focus my attention on the problem employees." Wrong. Dead wrong. This was one of my biggest mistakes as a young manager.

Your stars are typically achievers at their core. They're driven by growth and recognition, and they need to know that you see and appreciate their contributions. I learned this lesson when one of my best performers left for another company. During her exit interview, she said something that still haunts me: "I never felt like you noticed what I was doing here."

Now I make it a point to celebrate my stars actively. I tell them specifically what I love about their work. I explain how their behavior exemplifies our values. I keep finding ways to make their roles bigger and more challenging because they're hungry for growth.

Here's something that might surprise you: don't be afraid of building their egos. I used to worry about creating prima donnas, but I've learned the opposite is true. The more love and recognition you give your stars, the harder they work. They've already proven they won't let success go to their heads—that's part of what makes them stars.

Remember, your stars have options. They can leave anytime they want. If you don't celebrate them, someone else will.

The Departed: Low Performance, Low Values

Down in the bottom left corner are the employees I call "the departed"—though they should be departed from your organization. These people deliver poor performance and don't embrace your values. In theory, this should be the easiest group to manage, but in practice, many managers struggle here.

These employees are energy vampires. They take up a disproportionate amount of your time and drag down team morale. Everyone knows who they are, and everyone is watching to see what you'll do about it.

I've learned to have direct but compassionate conversations with these folks. "I don't think this role is the right fit for you," I'll say. "You're not a bad person, but this isn't working for either of us. Let's help you find something that better matches your skills and values."

The key is to move quickly. Every day you delay is another day your good employees are wondering why you're not walking your own talk about standards and accountability.

The Headaches: Great Performance, Wrong Values

Now we get to the really tricky ones. The headaches are employees who deliver fantastic performance but don't embrace your organizational values. They hit their numbers, they solve problems, they're competent—but they make everyone around them miserable.

Maybe they're brilliant but arrogant. Maybe they get results but trample people in the process. Maybe they're productive individually but toxic to team dynamics.

This category has caused me more sleepless nights than any other. You need their performance, but their behavior undermines everything you're trying to build culturally.

My approach has evolved over time. First, I make sure I'm communicating values clearly. Sometimes people genuinely don't understand what we expect. I'll sit down with them and say, "Let's review our values again. These aren't just words on a wall—they're specific behaviors. Let me show you exactly what they look like in practice."

Then I start catching them in the moment. "We value collaboration, but in that meeting you dominated the conversation and didn't give others a chance to contribute. That's not how we work here." I praise their performance but stay firm on the values piece.

The hardest part? Sometimes you have to let great performers go if they can't or won't adapt. I've made this call twice in my career, and both times it was painful but necessary. The team's relief afterward told me everything I needed to know.

The Heartaches: Great Values, Poor Performance

The heartaches might be the most difficult category of all. These are employees who fully embrace your values but struggle with performance. They're collaborative, they're committed, customers and coworkers love them—but they just can't hit their numbers or deliver at the level you need.

I call them heartaches because you genuinely want them to succeed. They're good people doing their best, but their best isn't quite enough.

With heartaches, I've learned to be more creative and patient. Sometimes it's about finding the right role for their strengths. Maybe they're not great at sales but they'd be phenomenal in customer service. Maybe they struggle with analysis but excel at relationship building.

I keep giving them chances, different opportunities, coaching and support. But here's the trap I see managers fall into constantly—and yes, I've done this too: we keep the heartache in their role and then hire someone else to essentially do their job. We can't bring ourselves to make the hard decision, so we double our costs and create confusion about who's actually responsible for what.

Everyone sees what's happening. It undermines your credibility and creates resentment among employees who are carrying their full load.

The Management Lessons That Changed My Approach

This framework taught me that there's no one-size-fits-all management style. Each quadrant requires different strategies, different conversations, different levels of patience and support.

With stars, you celebrate and challenge them. With the departed, you move quickly and compassionately. With headaches, you coach intensively and hold firm boundaries. With heartaches, you look for creative solutions while being honest about what success requires.

The biggest insight? Your team is watching how you handle each type of employee. They know who's performing and who isn't. They know who embodies your values and who doesn't. How you respond to each category sends a powerful message about what you really care about.

When you celebrate your stars, you show everyone what good looks like. When you address your departed employees, you demonstrate that standards matter. When you hold headaches accountable for values while acknowledging their performance, you prove that how we work is as important as what we produce. When you work patiently with heartaches while being realistic about results, you show that you care about people while maintaining business requirements.

Making the Hard Calls

The framework doesn't make the decisions easier, but it makes them clearer. Each quadrant presents its own challenges, and there's no perfect playbook for every situation.

What I've learned is that avoiding these decisions doesn't make them go away—it just makes them harder and more expensive over time. The star who leaves because you didn't appreciate them. The departed employee who drags down team morale for months. The headache who drives away good people. The heartache who never quite finds their fit.

Every employee deserves honesty, support, and a fair chance to succeed. But they also deserve a manager who's willing to make the tough calls that serve the greater good of the team and the organization.

That's the real challenge of management—caring about individuals while being responsible for collective success. This framework has helped me navigate that balance with more clarity and confidence. Maybe it'll help you too.