What do you think are the qualities of your best employee apart from 'performance' and 'behavior'?

I agree with Iris. It's definitely about the attitude or the passion for work. "If others can do it, I can do it". "If no one can do it, I will do it".

Hmm.
I don't include those, those are outcomes.
Things my "best" employees include:
Aptitude- the enjoy learning and retaining new skills
Attitude- they approach things from a "half full" than have half empty perspective
Teamwork- they "play" well with others. They recognize that no one is an island.
Resilience- they work through tough situations rather than quit when confronted with adersity
Integrity- they trust and can be trusted
Smart- I can teach smart people anything, I can't teach someone to be smart
Engaged- they understand and align with our values and mission
Personal competence- they "own" their space, their successes and their mishaps. When they need assistance they seek it and provide it proactively to others.

I could go on, but these are my keys. Technical competency is great, but these added to it get outstanding performers...
M

My best people (ALL my people) must embody the following.

Team. I don't mean we play well together, I mean we are a single entity. If one gets the ring, we all get the ring. Or no one does. One individual accomplishes nothing in a vacuum, and therefore should not even be willing to accept the credit alone. If someone has an idea, criticism or other input, it is assumed it is presented for the good of the team and accepted accordingly.

Drive. While I am ready, willing and able to teach my team, I rarely have to. If a thing needs learning, they learn it. If a thing needs doing, they do it. If there is not enough to do, they create more clients/projects/value.

Ownership. We do not have rules. If we feel the need to make a rule, someone has taken action not in the best interests of the team, and THAT is what we address. We are all protective of the team, as though we each own the team, and are diligent to protect that which we cherish.

Team. We are a team. That is to say a group of people having a helluva lot of fun bringing the best performance to our industry and beating the socks off our competition. That requires a lot of each one of us, and when we win we celebrate with vigor.

Together, let's put the fun back into work!
Belldon Colme
belldoncolme@gmail.com

Compassion--for people
Confidence--'can do' attitude
Communications--great listener, keeps team informed on task outcomes/issues
Dedication--to the job, company, team, getting job done
Loyalty to company--hard to find today--speaks well of company, almost no work absences, lives by the Code of Conduct, volunteers to help at company events/charity work

They think like owners, they take responsibly for their actions, they want to grow, they invest in themselves and the company for the long run.

Nearly every company I am aware of continues to adapt to survive. In order to maintain momentum among competitors there needs to be a healthy supply of employees and leaders who are able to adapt. Being able to tap into a pool of versatile employees allows for rapid process changes and retooling as market conditions change. Specific skills can be trained; attitudes can be enhanced through incentives and collaboration, but traits like versatility only come from innate qualities coupled with a broad base of experiences. There are, however, risks of overloading a workforce with adaptable, versatile employees since they also carry an expectation to move swiftly throughout an organization and the opportunity to take on new challenges at more frequent than average intervals. Maintaining a good mix (albeit difficult to hire for and good fodder for another discusssion forum) provides the necessary balance of skills that “keep the lights on” and teams throughout the organization that can remold the company’s direction as necessary.

The hardest thing to find these days i think it's an employee that wants the best thing for the employer. Like Mr. Mel Kleiman said, investing in company and themselves so that their job is making yours much easier.

Honesty

After hiring and working with hundreds of individuals, one of my #1 priorities in hiring has become determining if someone has Common Sense.

4 Aces----and you will win

Aptitude
Attitude
All rounder
Alert