Right People, Doing the Right Things, Right
"Don't send your ducks to eagle school."
- Jim Rohn
The 6th key to building a great business that works for you vs. relying on you ...to work comes from Jim Collins in his book Good to Great. Great companies can answer yes to the following questions:
Do you have the Right People, Doing the Right things, Right?
We will take the first one this week, who are the right people, how do I know, can I afford them, etc.
Please take 5 minutes and watch this interview with the founder of the Container Store. He explains quite simply the key to 37 years of compounded 24% growth. The Right People. He knows A Players may cost 50% more but produce up to 3 times the average player. Then read how you can evaluate your team, coach and Topgrade your team so that over time you have all A Players, but less employees.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppYh28BMUe8 |
What is a duck? What is a 'C' Player? What's an 'A' Player? How do I know? Well, I just finished a great book by Peter Roe called "The People Puzzle". I took the liberty and pulled the following concepts from his book, while adding a few thoughts of my own to the mix. I highly recommend the book. Read on to answer the questions above and more.
Survey after survey consistently shows that US employees fall into one of these 3 categories:
- 20% are Engaged Employees - They are committed to doing the right things, right. They are engaged with the purpose, values and goals of the leader and the team. They want to work for the common good of the enterprise, they enjoy coming to work and the work they do.
- 20% are Actively Disengaged - These people are committed to doing the right things only when it furthers their own goals. When it comes to working for the common good they are totally uncommitted. They usually reject any attempt to engage in group purpose, values and goals and are quite prepared to do things against the common good if that gets them what they want.
- 60% are Turning Up and Going Through the Motions - They have a lower level of competence and are not motivated to become highly competent. They also have lower levels of commitment due to lower levels of energy, self-confidence or ambition; don't or won't identify with group purpose or values.
A Players are competent, committed and engaged. Those are the 3 main characteristics you can evaluate your team by.
How does your team sort out?
Here are the 3 main components we recommend accessing when sorting out your team:
- Competence - (skill) having the ability to perform the tasks, actions and functions to achieve the desired results.
- Commitment- (will) having the willingness to learn and improve and meet their own standards as well as the team's. It is a product of an individual belief system and values.
- Engagement - (thrill) is the response to an invitation to care about someone else's goals, values and purpose. It is seeking an experience and making a contribution beyond oneself. It is a matter of thrill of being part of the team.
The first two are inherent in the person. The latter is your responsibility as a leader to create the circumstances for Engagement.
Some can be coached, some can't and some are already there. Let's look at the combinations.
The following are your 'C' Players:
1) Incompetent, Uncommitted, Disengaged
Why bother? Well, we can invite them to engage with our Purpose, Values and Goals and, if they accept that invitation, then we can determine if they have the commitment to learn and become more competent. But let's face it - do you have the time, patience and resources to take this route? All the while they are actively poisoning your team and many of them resent the fact you keep them around.
2) Competent, Uncommitted, Disengaged
If competent and uncommitted (to personal development) they can probably "do the job" but can be a grind to work with. They will be far less productive than their counterparts but we keep them around because we hate recruiting and don't know if we can find better. They believe they are great employees because they "do their job". They are hard to coach because they are not committed to their own improvement. They follow a routine and do what they want to do in a manner they like to do it. Any change you suggest will get pushback. They learned their job through routine and don't learn from mistakes. They can't stand being seen as incompetent their ego is too big. They don't care about what you are trying to achieve they only care about their own comfort.
These people are also dangerous to have around, and you're 'A' Players resent the fact you walk by this problem and don't do something about it.
3) Incompetent, Committed, Disengaged
This group will commit to only their own agenda. Maybe they have not been sold your purpose, values and goals so give it a try. If they engage then you have to decide if they are coachable and trainable. If not, you know what to do. They are committed to improving their competence but will they once challenged?
4) Incompetent, Uncommitted, Engaged
Beware - these people are more damaging than their disengaged peers above! They are enthusiastically bringing down the team and when you don't act on it the 'A' Players will resent it and be ripe to leave. You must cut this cancer out of the company as soon as possible.
The following are your 'B' Players:
1) Incompetent, Committed, Engaged
These people are engaged with your purpose, values and goals and to developing their skills/competence.
If they are trainable and coachable - great! If they seem to not have the competence for the job, you may be able to find them another position in the company where they can perform competently and add value.
2) Competent, Uncommitted and Engaged
This is an unusual characteristic, but they exist. These individuals may not have the confidence, energy and/or personal issues that drain them. They are engaged. Working with them one-on-one, setting goals, and helping them achieve them can unlock that commitment they are lacking to improving themselves. You may have to help them to establish a healthy balance in their personal/professional lives.
3) Competent, Committed, Disengaged
Here you have someone who can do the job, and is committed to personal and professional growth that will drive them to do things well. Engagement is the lacking ingredient. This one is squarely on you. The problem is that they need to be engaged with the company's Core Purpose, Core Values and Goals. You first have to have defined, documented and communicated these items on a weekly basis.
The following are you're 'A' Players:
1) Competent, Committed, Engaged
Finally the 'A' Players. These are the people that are competent, committed to learn and improve and are engaged to the point they care about the business, it's employees, customers and families as much as you do. They will go the extra mile, enjoy their work and get satisfaction from a job well done.
These people deserve, and will expect, an excellent leader. If you fall short they may leave. If you tolerate others on the team that are less competent, less committed and/or disengaged they will feel insulted. If they feel you are using them to shore up and take up the slack for others who are not committed and engaged, then they will resent that and may leave. At the very least, they will become disenchanted and less engaged.
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