Bringing A Players

Bringing A Players

We see the struggle in many companies to have the talent that they need to get to their desired business goals. When we have a void of key players in crucial positions, then the company usually misses their objectives. Each company needs individuals to own their own performance, supervise key players, manage the work and lead people. We need to bring in talented individuals that have a track record of winning. You are looking for people that are able to work through others, get things done consistently and take ownership of their areas. It is important in the selection process that you frame some specific behavioral interview questions and then ask their references the same questions. We can to get to the heart of their previous performance.

A. Tell me about a time where you have gone above the call of duty to make a great contribution at work.

B. Tell me about a time when you had a very difficult customer that you were able to turn around and make them a raving fan.

C. Tell me about a time where you were a team player and helped your team achieve a difficult goal.

D. Tell me about a time when you had to learn a new role and position and get up to speed quickly.

E. Tell me about a time where you failed to live up to your commitments and what you learned from this experience.

F. Tell me about a time that you were able to lead a group of people to achieve a challenging goal and what you did to make it happen.

Be sure to document the responses to evaluate their experience and then ask the same questions to their references. You want to determine if their examples are in alignment with how their boss remembers their experience. When an individual has been successful in the past, it is the greatest predictor of future performance. Talent is crucial for winning in your business.

Looking in the Mirror to Review Performance

It is an important time of year for each business. We need to evaluate where we are today and where we are going tomorrow. Here are a few bullet points that are important to reflect upon:

• We each need to look at the performance expectations that have been established for each Business and Manager. We need to insure that we have established keys for success in each area. The challenge is that we have to transfer ownership to the right people, partner with them in their development and hold them accountable to achieve the desired results. To get to where we need to go, there needs to be ownership of goal achievement and working the agreed upon processes on a consistent basis.


• If you have B or C players in your Manager positions, what is the best grade that your company will be able to earn? The managers need to be able to make great decisions, execute the plan, grow their people and follow through for goal achievement. The managers need to be able to LEAD their people and their business. You have to measure performance and raise the performance bar.


• The coaching relationship with each Manager is very important. We have to know what the behaviors are that they need to demonstrate as you look at their diverse responsibilities. We need to be able to evaluate their behaviors and results so that they can be provided SPECIFIC feedback. From this feedback you can then move to the establishment of improvement plans for the managers and their branches. You can work with them to insure that we have determined what the issues are and then establish an ACTION plan that puts you in a position to win. Individuals have to believe in what needs to be different and then commit to making the necessary changes. Remember that we have to find the right balance between challenging, developing and empowering our people.


• In each department we need to be evaluating what is working, where we are missing the mark and where we can improve. Don’t get trapped in “well, we are at budget, or this is how they have always done it, or we can’t expect much from this person.” This will limit the company's going to the next level. You want to look at your standard processes in each company discipline to insure that we are doing what we need to do. You have to do solid investigative work to get to the core of what is supposed to be done and then evaluate how well they execute. This assessment will provide you with a great place to work from in gaining traction for taking the next steps.


• This is an important time to leverage your diverse skill sets and play to your strengths. The Managers should be leveraging their talents and work as a resource in supporting the efforts of your people. You want to have right level of engagement to see what is working or what is missing. Leaders should really be communicating and collaborating so that you can maximize the performance of EACH of your direct reports.


• We have to move the conversation to all the things that we can and will control. It will be important to identify your current state of performance, where you want to go and what will be different going forward. Our objective should be to stay out of the Circle Trap conversations. Remember that we need to keep people focused upon winning and then following through with timely performance management. Each player needs to see what they own and take this responsibility.

Bob Coulter

Growing People to Share the Load

The journey of people development is crucial in getting our businesses to achieve their objectives. We need to assess where we are as individuals and how many employees we have in each category:

• Doer
• Supervisor
• Manager
• Leader

This journey is important because individuals will have greater levels of fulfillment and the organization will benefit because we have deeper contributions being made and all the bases will be covered. It is important to insure a couple of people are not trying to own everything themselves. It comes down to growing your direct reports and empowering them to own their performance. We want to identify where we are missing the mark and what needs to be different in our performance. Be sure to analyze our patterns of behavior in our personal performance to make course corrections and be clear about what we are working on to drive to the next level. Look for things like self-inspection and have plans for how we can help them to elevate their play.