What's an 'A' Player and What to Do with 'B' Players

"In the minds of great managers, consistently poor performance is not primarily a matter of weakness, stupidity, disobedience, or disrespect. It is a matter of miscasting."

- Marcus Buckingham

"Up to 87.7 percent of America's workforce is not able to contribute to their full potential because they don't have passion for their work." 

- Deloitte Center for the Edge

From Rhythm Blog :

If you read our blog often, you know that we are fans of Topgrading, and we frequently talk about hiring and developing A Players. In a previous post, I gave an example of one of our clients who did an audit of all of their employees and created a KPI for "% of A Players." If you aren't familiar with Topgrading, you might be wondering about this term - "A Players." What does it mean?

One definition of A players is your team members who are performing very well and living the company's core values. A more technical definition is that they are the top 10% of talent available in the pay range for that position. If you decide to use this term in your organization, get clear about your own definition so that everyone can be on the same page when you talk about A Players.

Even if you're familiar with A Players, you may not be familiar with the different types of A Players. Topgrading expert Jenny Vargas taught our consultants these levels in one of our weekly Keep Smart sessions: 

• A1: These team members have very high potential. They could be promoted 2+ levels in your organization.
• A2: These players are also performing well and promotable, but probably only one level up from their current position.
• A3: These are your team members who are a great fit for their current position. Maybe they have no desire to be promoted to a different role because their current position suits them perfectly.
• A Potential: This is someone who has the potential to function at an A level in the foreseeable future, like within the next 6-12 months, depending on the situation. This might be the case for brand new hires still training for their new positions. 
• Non-A Player: These are team members who do not exhibit the potential to function at an A level in the foreseeable future.

For all the types of A Players, it is critical to provide ongoing developmental opportunities to keep them engaged and happy and give them the skills to attain their career goals. It is especially important to provide the right training and resources to team members who have "A Potential." These people need coaching and support to function at their highest level.

What about these non-A Players?

• C players are not performing and not living the core values. Ideally, these should be screened out in the interview process and never make it to your team. If you conduct an audit of your talent and find that you do have C Players on your team, it is usually best to "free up their futures" so that they can pursue other opportunities that could be a better fit for them.
• B+ players are living the core values but not performing well. Dig in a little to find out what's going on here. Is it a skill gap; do they genuinely not know how to perform well in their current role? Do they love the company but find the work draining, tedious, etc.? These team members may need to switch to a different role in the organization that they have the skill and desire to master. With some coaching and skill development, some of these players may actually have "A Potential" in their current role.
• B- players may be highly skilled and top performers, but they don't live your core values. It can be especially challenging to work with these people because culture is far more difficult to change than skill. And, it is usually very difficult to let go of someone who is performing well and producing results.

While it is pretty clear what to do with A Players (grow them) and C Players (fire them), it can be tricky determining the right path for B Players. B Players are what Jenny called "Revenue Vampires" because it takes two B Players to do the work of one A Player. B Players also suck a lot of time and energy from the A Players around them.

Here's what to do with your B Players:

• Address the problem quickly. According to an HBR article by Sull, Homkes and Sull, "A majority of the companies we have studied delay action (33%), address underperformance inconsistently (34%), or tolerate poor performance (11%)." Waiting to address issues with team members only compounds the problem by negatively impacting the A Players who work with these B Players and by making the conversation more difficult.
• Have an honest conversation about the specific results they are not delivering successfully. Clarify your expectations about their performance, and assess for a skill gap that could be causing them to under-perform.
• Coach them to develop new skills or habits that will make them more successful in their current role.
• Determine whether their current role is a poor fit not because of skill but because of the person's particular strengths and interests.
• If the person is a good fit culturally, you may be able to move them to a different position that is a better fit for them where they would have A Potential.
• If you don't have a performance issue, but you do have a culture fit or core values issue, have an honest conversation about that, too. (You may find Crucial Conversations skills helpful in initiating a difficult conversation like this one.) Having a Job Scorecard that includes your Core Values may make a conversation like this one easier.
• Determine whether the person is willing and humble enough to work on the specific issues that are clashing with your core values. With an awareness of exactly how their behavior does not match your expectations based on core values, the person may be able to work on developing some interpersonal skills to help them fit better in your company culture.
• If the core values misfit is not one that can be remedied with coaching and skill development, then it is usually best to let this person go, even though it can be difficult to say goodbye to a top performer. The good news is that if you replace them with an A Player, that person will be twice as productive without harming the morale of the rest of the team.

If you do audit your team and find that you have mostly A Players, that's great! Prevent your A Players from becoming B Players by creating a safe way for them to talk about skill, knowledge, and leadership gaps that could arise as your company grows. We all have strengths and weaknesses, and it is best to be open with each other about what those are. This way, we can be able to give each other feedback on potential blind spots so that we are constantly improving and sharpening our saws as Stephen Covey taught.

Commitment to ongoing development is the only way to avoid becoming a B Player over time as the company grows and your role within it changes.

Critical Conversatons - The Effective Way

"Great coaches consistently get the most out of the their people, because they consistently put the most in to their people."

- Brian Souza

As a follow up to last week's post on the power and importance of weekly coaching conversations with your employees, below is a short article on how to provide constructive criticism. Again, take action, set up the conversations and begin talking with your employees away from the chaos and stress of the job. Like a football coach - do it in practice, not in the game.

Giving and receiving criticism is an uncomfortable but necessary part of career growth. Here are six ways to do it without being mean.

By Stephanie Vozza

Even when your intentions are good, it can be tough to give constructive criticism. It's an awkward conversation for the giver, and it can spark a negative reaction in the receiver.

Constructive criticism also brings out defensiveness. "Human beings are hardwired to defend themselves when receiving negative feedback," says Shari Harley, founder and president of the management-training firm Candid Culture and author of "How to Say Anything to Anyone: A Guide to Building Business Relationships That Really Work".

"You can't eliminate people's defensive reactions to negative feedback, but you can reduce it, making feedback easier to hear and act upon," she says.

The first step is to make sure you have the right to give constructive criticism, says Robbie Kellman Baxter, founder of the management consulting firm Peninsula Strategies and author of "The Membership Economy". 

She says there are three ways you earn this right:

1. Someone asks for it.
2. Your title grants you permission (you're the boss or the customer).
3. A formal space has been carved out for feedback relating to a particular project.

If you haven't earned the right to give constructive criticism, you need to ask permission, says Kellman Baxter. "Be open to the idea that they might say no," she says.

Once you're in a position to provide feedback, there are six ways to offer constructive criticism that helps a situation instead of hurting it:

1. Balance negative with positive.

We've all heard of the criticism sandwich technique: Wedge the constructive statement between two positives. Some experts say it undermines your feedback, but Kellman Baxter says it's important to point out what people do right as well as what they do wrong.

 

"In general, you should be giving five pieces of positive feedback for every one piece of negative," says Kellman Baxter. "Asking managers to get into this habit does wonders for strengthening morale and results."

 

And always end on a good note, adds Thomas: "Let the employee know what you value in them and how they benefit the company," he says. "This will ensure that they still feel valued as an employee." 

2. Don't make it personal.

Constructive criticism isn't about insulting someone; it's pointing out what they can do better. It should focus on the behavior and not the person.

 

"It's not, 'You're so bossy,'" Kellman Baxter says. "It's, 'At yesterday's meeting, you didn't ask for other opinions and didn't include the rest of us in the decision making.' That's specific."

3. Include recommendations for improvement.

Most times, employees didn't know they were doing something wrong, Thomas says. "They are caught off guard by the conversation and ultimately need assistance to improve," he says.

He suggests providing examples or recommendations on how to improve that let the employee know that you are there to help, not criticize them.
 

4. Don't "save up" your negative feedback.

People often hoard feedback until a situation becomes so frustrating that they can't help but speak up, says Harley. "Because they waited too long to say what they think, many more words come tumbling out than is either necessary or helpful."

Instead, make it a practice to give small amounts of feedback one at a time - one or two strengths and areas for improvement during a conversation. People cannot focus on more than one or two things at a time, says Harley.
 

5. Be timely, but not immediate.

Give feedback close to the time of an event, but not when you're upset, says Harley. Wait 24 hours to give feedback if you're upset, but not longer than a week after an event occurs.

"The time to fix a problem is when no one is upset," she says. "I call this practice the 24-hour guideline and the one-week rule: Wait 24 hours to give feedback if you're upset, but not longer than a week after an event occurs."
 

6. Finally, be discreet.

"Praise in public, criticize in private," says Harley. Make sure all negative feedback discussions happen behind a closed door.

What Do Your People Want That You Fear Providing?

"Where do I stand? How am I seen? What do you think?

I don't mean to sound needy...but a little bit of information could go a long way with me."

- An employee (maybe yours)

Ok - I spent over 30 years in various levels of management and the last 5-6 working with business owners and their teams. Let's face it - we all know that employees want to meet with us but I have come to the conclusion as a group we fear having those conversations. Yes we fear them!

We fear that we will not have the answers to the questions that might come up -i.e. "if I'm doing a good job when can I get promoted, what is the "career ladder" for me here?" Being honest, maybe critical, when asked "how am I doing"?

Diana Southall of The People Plan brought this to my attention:

Ignoring your team members is actually 20x worse than being a critical boss!

In fact, a recent study of employees found that of employees who feel ignored by their direct manager, only 2% reported being engaged with their job, compared to 45% of employees who report their boss focused on their weaknesses, and 65% of those with a positive focused manager.

Almost half of these "invisible" team members reported to be "actively disengaged" - meaning that they consciously perform lower - versus 1% of those with positive managers.

Seriously, if you are not coaching your team (in practice, in weekly 15 minute coaching conversations), then they are like a boat without a captain - sailing toward the horizon with no particular place to go. (I just watched Pirates of the Caribbean again- what a fun study in leadership!)

To be effective, team members need to be

• clear on the ultimate purpose of their task, jobs and organization,
• given regular assistance prioritizing their efforts,
• performance improving feedback and training, and
• recognition when they get it right or step up.

Thanks Diana,  and I'll add "conversations and help in career development!"

We say to ourselves, "We don't have a career ladder here" or "I might say the wrong thing and they will start looking for another job", or "I don't know the right questions to ask", or "I don't know how to help them with developing their career", etc.

So we fear it and we ignore it - at our expense.

I just read a new book by Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni, "Help Them Grow or Watch them Go". 

They have broken it down into the simplest form and provided questions and blueprints for taking the fear out of these Weekly Coaching Conversations. You don't need a career ladder to keep your employees engaged and achieving their career goals - you simply help them be accountable for their own careers and provide opportunities to be promoted in place.

Here is my book report breaking down the key elements, or buy the book yourself.

Take action and the fear melts away. Your employees want to talk to you - so set up weekly 15 minute coaching conversations and begin coaching and engaging your employees. Start taking action, having conversations and the fear melts away.

Fire Gloomy, Hire Happy

"In the minds of great managers, consistent poor performance is not primarily a matter of weakness, stupidity, disobedience, or disrespect. It is a matter of miscasting."

- Marcus Buckingham

"It's not the people you fire who make your life miserable. It's the people you don't."

- Dick Grote

"We don't develop friendly people, we hire them."

- Conrad Hilton

Tom Peters is a business guru and former McKinsey consultant who was my "mentor" during the 80's. I read all of his books and watched many documentaries he made on successful businesses who turned around their fortunes - like Harley Davidson.

 

Peters recently posted a formula on his website for making a business, or any team, truly great. I was delighted to see this formula, because it matched up exactly with my own experience of working with leaders and teams over the past 7 years. 

 

This formula works. But it's so simple, it might not be taken seriously. In fact, it's so simple it almost embarrasses me to send it to you today. But here goes. One promise: follow the formula and your numbers will jump through the roof; experience proves it.

From Tom Peters:

 

The Way to Succeed:

HIRE SUNNY! FIRE GLOOMY!

Hire/Promote those with....Sunny Dispositions.

Fire those with perpetually...Gloomy Dispositions.

(Hint: The farther up the Organization you go, the more important this gets.)

Rule: Leaders are not permitted to have "bad days"....especially on Bad Days!

Rule: One Sad Dog can infect a group of 100.

Rule: One Energetic, Optimistic, Sunny Soul can motivate an army to move a mountain.

Thank you Tom! Remember - knowing is not enough, doing is all that matters.