Deepak,
I spent my first 12 years of managing trying to do exactly what you want to do. The performance gap between my best people and my worst was large. The gap between my middle level to the top performers was also considerable. I was using the traditional command and control model, controlling my people with orders, policies, rules, goals, targets, and the like. None of that significantly reduced the gap.
Then I tried a new method. I switched from command and control to listening and responding to employees to their satisfaction or better. Their performance started to rise and the more I did that the more their performance rose. It eventually rose to a level at least twice as high as I had thought humanly possible. Wow! Later, I added the technique of converting followers into non-followers and their performance doubled to a level at least four times higher than I had thought humanly possible.
In the process, I learned that I had been causing the poor performance by how I managed my people. In listening to my people and analyzing what I heard over years, I came understand the science of people. There is a science to everything in the universe and people are no exception and that science tells us why certain actions disengage people while other actions create a fully engaged workforce.
For an overview of the process of creating engaged, motivated employees take a look at the video about that on my website. If I can be of help, just ask.
Best regards, Ben Simonton
Leadership is a science and so is engagement