How to Identify and Retain Domain Masters on Your Team

Your domain masters are an invaluable asset—don’t take them for granted. Do everything you can to make them happy and keep them around.

You might be lucky enough at some point to have a domain master on your team. These people are in the upper right quadrant of the leadership matrix. You don’t have to put in a lot of time and energy and you get outstanding results. Your domain masters demonstrate a long track record of consistent, outstanding performance. They’re happy in their current role. They don’t want to take on dramatically different responsibilities. They tend to be your go-to person for information and assistance on specific topics where they have deep expertise. They’re some of the most valuable assets on your team. They require very little leadership capital from you. And they consistently deliver those great results.

There are some easy ways to spot a domain master. They have a quiet confidence. They tend not to complain. They’re not usually very self-promoting about their own work. They’re self-starters. They overcome obstacles on their own. People seek out their expertise, especially when it relates to an area that this person knows a lot about. People seek to work with them. A lot of times they’re highly recruited by other teams in the organization. And most of the domain masters I know tend to have a really good work-life balance.

I had one domain master on my team who knew everything about this business unit. When we had a question, we called George. He knew everything going back 15 years in this entire business unit. He was the true expert in this space. If you’re wondering who your domain masters are and how you can identify them just ask the people on your team, “Hey, when we have a question about this topic, who do we call?” The name you get back is probably your domain master.

How to Retain Domain Masters

With domain masters, your primary goal is to retain them in the organization. Their expertise is invaluable; you don’t want them leaving. The challenge with domain masters is you tend to rely on them for a substantial share of your teams results. It can be very easy to take these people for granted. Your goal with domain masters is to retain and nurture them. Make sure they know they’re valued for their contributions. Remove obstacles that frustrate them. Make their jobs easier to do.

I had a domain master on my team, his name was George. We gave him great performance reviews. We put him up for internal rewards for the awesome job he was doing. We got him out of a noisy call center environment and put him in a much nicer office space. We also increased his autonomy and authority to do his job. I wanted George happy, I wanted to keep him around. I took action to make sure that he was happy and stayed in the organization.

The benefits of effectively leading a domain master include you keep them on your team and producing great results. You retain them for the broader organization. You become a beacon to attract other high performers to your team because they see you treat your people well. This individual can also serve as an example for the rest of your team. They can train other people who come into the team. Your domain masters are an invaluable asset—don’t take them for granted. Do everything you can to make them happy and keep them around.

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