Topgrading

How to be a HAPPY A player.

About 6,000 interviews ago I began taking advantage of high achievers I interviewed by asking those in their 50’s:

How would you live your life or manage your career differently, if you could start over?

I heard the same responses again and again, so ever since I have passed on their wisdom to executives I’ve coached.  A lot of executives said these words of wisdom, though “obvious,” helped them as much as learning to Topgrade!  Hmmm.

   1.  Fix broken pieces in your life now, or they will get worse.

The single most read page (p.195) of my book Topgrading explains the Life Balance Scorecard.  It says if there are six important parts of your life, rate them OK or NOT OK, and fix those that are NOT OK, or else.  Or else what?  Hundreds of high achievers said they were not truly happy unless ALL important parts of their life (career, family, health, etc.) were at least “OK.”  The happiest of the A players said all the important parts of their life were, if not great, at least “OK.”

   2.  Don’t neglect family.

As you’d expect, this advice comes from thousands of A players who have been divorced and didn’t really get to know their children.  They say they kidded themselves at the time – “I’ll be a workaholic for just another year or two and then get balance in my life.”

In retrospect they say they really could have, and should have, invested more in their most important relationships.

   3.  Pay attention to health.

The high achievers stopped smoking, but about half said their exercise, eating, sleeping, and stress-relief habits were not so hot during their 30’s and 40’s.

   4.  Live within your means.

A lot of the high achievers made at least one terrible job move out of desperation –financial desperation: “With my expensive life style, I had to get a higher paying job.”  That’s what they thought at the time.

Their advice:  Save and invest for rainy days and retirement.

   5.  Plan your career early.

Since 85% of the high achievers I’ve interviewed were self-made, from the “other side of the tracks,” they didn’t get great career advice early in their career.  They listened to mentors who helped them succeed in the short-term, but not long-term.  So, general managers started their broadening processes (MBA, request to be cross trained in sales, etc.) much later than ideal.  Career plans can obviously change, but A players suggest recruiting mentors who think long term. 

   6.  Topgrade.

Did you think I’d neglect this?  Prior to Topgrading A players built their “virtual bench,” their Rolodex of talented people they’d recruit.  That’s how they put together teams of 50% high achievers.  These days high achievers continue to hire from their virtual bench. But when hiring others, they achieve 90% success using:

• the tandem approach (two interviewers), and
• the Topgrading Interview Guide, to be sure all the right questions are asked and they learn the full, chronological, career history.

And, by hiring and promoting better, and redeploying Non A players, they ratchet up talent so their teams have not just 50% high performers, but 90%.

These 6 bits of wisdom definitely improved my life, and I hope some of it helps you!

Why 75 Percent of Managers Promoted Fail

Last year I met with the #1 human resource executives of the world’s largest 100 corporations and they confirmed what our research found: only one in four managers promoted turn out to be the expected high performer. Why do so many managers fail? Our business culture supports myths, and the Topgraders instead embrace facts. Topgrading companies achieve 90% success promoting people.

Myth #1: People should be promoted because of their strengths.
Fact: Failures at executive levels are mostly due to people not overcoming their weak points.

Almost monthly I read drivel in leading business magazines about how success is achieved through relying on one’s strengths, “because people won’t overcome shortcomings anyway,” they say. Nonsense.

Of 6,500 executives I’ve assessed or coached, 90% were mediocre in one or more jobs, and the reason was clear: their weak points dragged them down. The sales manager promoted to general manager continued selling, while not learning enough to manage operations. When his plants faltered, so did he, and he was passed over for subsequent promotions. He was good at selling and continued to rely on it. Dumb!

Recommendation: Although you should hire individual contributors based on their strengths, only promote managers after they have overcome fatal flaws, serious weak points.

Myth #2: Bosses can judge subordinates’ promotability.
Fact: Boss’ promotion recommendations fail 75% of the time.

The 25% good recommendations occur when high performing bosses are recommending people to succeed them (a job they know). How likely is it that the Manager Financial Planning will know enough about marketing to recommend one of his financial planners for Marketing Analyst?

Recommendation: Use the Topgrading approach. Have two managers conduct a tandem Topgrading Interview of the financial planner. This is the approach Topgraders use to achieve 90% success promoting people.

Topgrading Hiring — Recent College Graduates

People ask if the same Topgrading Interview is the best approach for hiring recent college graduates. Yes! It seems most of our clients have experienced 66% attrition of campus hires, over a three-year period. You can cut college grad mis-hires in half by doing the following:

1. Build relationships with professors, so they recommend the top students.
2. Ask recruits who will be visiting you to complete the Topgrading Career History Form, providing details of part-time or summer jobs (in spaces where full-time job information is requested).
3. In the visit to your company, conduct tandem Topgrading Interviews. It will take 1 1/2 hours, not 4, and you’ll get far more information than you will from round-robin behavioral interviews (which are OK, but just not enough).
4. Ask candidates to arrange reference calls with 3 or 4 bosses they’ve had. Yes, even though it was for summer jobs.

Why People Don’t Support Topgrading

This morning a client HR executive, widely respected for driving the Topgrading vision in an 8,000 person division said to me:

“If people don’t support Topgrading they’re
a C player or they don’t get it.”

She’s right. So, she is the educator, cheerleader, and general emissary, constantly sensing skepticism and addressing it through one-on-one conversations, mini workshops for small groups, handing out Topgrading handbooks, and encouraging the sharpest managers to use Topgrading methods (so that they experience the positive results and they help sell Topgrading to laggards). The high performers are direct and up front with their concerns — all they need is some more education. In the past skeptics had to wait for a Topgrading workshop or read Topgrading, but it’s easier to educate sharp managers these days. If you don’t have the time my client has to personally educate people, just hand them the small Topgrading handbook or suggest they watch the 1-hour Topgrading video.

But watch out! The C players are passive–aggressive, pretending to support Topgrading but secretly trying to derail it. They fear Topgrading will cause them to be replaced by a high performer. Hmm — maybe they’re not so dumb.

That’s why all sharp managers must pay attention to excuses and confront them:

C player: “I couldn’t find a tandem partner so I interviewed her alone and want to offer her a job.”
You: “Nope — I’ll choose a tandem pair (of high performers) to interview her.”
C player: “I’m desperate so I’ll just hire this C player.”
You: “Nope. Plan ahead next time and now do the full court press in recruitment, but no way will you hire a C player.”

Recommendation: When launching Topgrading, ask high performers to help sell the changes by educating and positively challenging skeptics.

SECURITY CHECKS COST PEANUTS AND PREVENT MIS-HIRES

Recently I interviewed the president of one of the top security check firms, and he repeated the statistics we’ve all heard – that most resumes contain deliberate falsehoods.  The question is – are these small errors, or major, like having been convicted of a felony?

Almost all Topgraders require security checks on selection candidates.  Like the TORC (Threat of Reference Check) Technique, knowing a security check will be done can cause dishonest people to not apply for jobs.  But too few companies require security checks, even of candidates for senior positions.

So, use TOSC (Threat of Security Check) to discourage dishonest and low-performing candidates from applying, and use the security checks to weed out the psychopaths who were arrogant enough to think they could manipulate you to hire them despite their ethical slips.

DON’T WIMP OUT IN THE TOPGRADING INTERVIEW

Topgraders aren’t wimps, but I observe timidity in asking the tough questions in topgrading workshops.  Probably most of that hesitancy is due to managers just beginning to learn the Topgrading methods.  But mis-hires occur when interviewers fail to ask the tough questions.  In the Topgrading Interview Guide each Work History Form has the same 15 essential questions for each job, and the two toughest questions are:
 
   1.  Question # 8.  We all make mistakes—what would you say were mistakes and failures experienced in that job?
 
Hesitant interviewers tend to reword it to, “Could you have done something a little better in that job?”  That’s weak!  Interviewees sense the weakness and talk about a nice accomplishment that could have been even more successful:  “Yeah, I’m sorry to report that although I exceeded the sales goal by 200%, I could have worked even harder and achieved 210%.”
 
   2.  (Part of) Question #15.  What is your best guess as to what (supervisor’s name) honestly felt were your weak points? 
 
Timid interviewers reword it to, “What would your manager say were your opportunities in that job?”  Weak!  The interviewee can answer honestly and say nothing negative:  “In order to qualify for promotion sooner I could have taken a seminar on strategy.”

Don’t deny yourself crucial insights into interviewees’ shortcomings and weak points by softening or, worse yet, avoiding the tough questions.  Please:

• Look the person in the eye
• Don’t hesitate
• Ask the question directly

How C Players and A Players Talk to Top Management

Having conducted about 30,000 45-minute oral 360 interviews, confidential discussions in which a manager is assessed, I’ve noticed a pattern in how senior executives assess C players’ and A players’ communication skills.  When listing the strengths and weak points of mid-managers, C players are typically criticized by senior executives for:

• Being verbose.

C players tend to explain their rationale for a recommendation, hesitant to get to the bottom line for fear they will be interrupted.  A players get to the point, saying, “In the past we have avoided entering Asian markets for very good reasons, but I suggest changing that decision because of three new trends which are–“ 

• Saying, “It depends.”

Senior executives think, “Of course it depends.  That’s obvious!”  A players say, “If we had to make a decision on whether to replace vendor X today I’d say yes because vendor Y is better; however, vendor X has a new CEO who so impressed me that I’d like to defer the decision three months.” 

• Saying, “It’s just different.”

People say, “It’s different,” for fear of offending senior executives by taking a position.  C players waffle, but A players confidently state their point of view.  The A player says, “ Lisa and Alan have quite different marketing plans and I favor Lisa’s because–”

In communications with senior executives, C players tend to be insecure, hesitant, and fearful of rejection, whereas, A players are confident and results-oriented.  No surprise!

Why A Player Human Resources Loves Topgrading

Sometimes Topgrading has been portrayed as a CEO initiative, with HR tagging along.  Of course, CEOs are major advocates, since their performance is so obviously connected to talent in the organization.  When CEOs hear about Topgrading  and learn that some of their peers are improving hiring and promoting success from 25% to 90%, they go nuts.  “How can we be so far behind other companies in picking people!?”  It’s unfortunate when they have to drag HR to the party, to direct HR to embrace an A player standard, or to train managers in the superior Topgrading Interview process.  C player HR managers balk, but the A players love Topgrading, because it enables them to:

• Earn respect.

Historically the HR executive has been like the field goal kicker, a second-class citizen except during a few moments of glory (a successful labor negotiation, or whatever).  Why?  HR used to be the least accountable function.  However, Topgraders measure hiring and promoting success, install procedures to improve it, and they are held accountable for improving talent.  When they are credited with dramatic improvements in talent, they get respect.

• Earn high salaries.

HR has historically been the lowest paid function, but there are more and more exceptions.  When HR can show plummeting costs of mis-hires and mis-promotions, and improvement in percent A players in management from, say, 50% to 80%, they earn the bigger bucks.  A recent study by Aon identified 172 HR executives who were among the five best-paid managers in their companies.

• Enjoy marketability.

If Topgraders don’t get the recognition and rewards they deserve, they can find another job in a nanosecond.  Hundreds of Topgrading companies are eager to hire Topgraders in HR, today!Yesterday (as I wrote this), the new head of HR at a Global 100 company told me why his predecessor had been fired.  The CEO had been lamenting 25% success in hiring and when the former head of HR resisited at introducing Topgrading, he fired her.

• Lead.

Typically the CEO wants superior talent and is willing to make the hard decisions (raising the bar, firing C players, etc.), but most rely on HR to lead the way, to outline the strategy and tactics, and to execute well.

Fortunately some parts of Topgrading are pretty easy to install.  Introducing Topgrading Interviews does NOT mean scrapping existing HR practices.  The job analysis, job description, and round-robin behavioral interviews are kept.  The Topgrading Interview is tacked on, so the change can be smooth and easy.

In talent reviews Topgraders in HR typically have the deepest insights into people, because they are frequently asked to be the tandem interview partner to a hiring manager,  HR managers become the most accurate at predicting who will succeed, fail, grow, or fade.  That knowledge, of course, converts to leadership.

In my experience, which includes in-depth assessments of over 600 HR executives, the A players love Topgrading and the C players don’t. 

Build Your Virtual Bench of 40 A Players in 3 Months

In four books on hiring and selection I’ve recommended minimizing the use of recruiters and ads, and instead filling jobs with people you already know – A players. We recommend having a virtual bench consisting of 20 A players who are pre-screened and might join you – plus 20 A players who wouldn’t work for you (because they are too highly paid, geographically challenged, etc.) but they know a lot of A players and can recommend them. When an opening occurs, Topgraders:

• contact the As who might join them, and if none will, they
• contact the sources of As, for referrals.

In the Q&A section of every speech, teleseminar, and workshop, someone asks:

Question: How can I build my virtual bench? It would take years to do, wouldn’t it?

Answer: Nope. Here’s how:

   1.  Go through your Rolodex, Palm Pilot, and Address Book to find some A players or sources. Most people find 6 or 8 – more than they thought.

   2.  Ask your A player subordinates and other A player coworkers for names of A players you might hire or who might be sources.

   3.  Use the Topgrading Interview to get names. You can get a huge list of A players FAST. Here’s how:

Pages 13 and 14 of the Topgrading Interview Guide have sections in which a managerial candidate is asked to give the name, title, strengths, weak points, overall performance, and A/B/C rating for ALL direct reports (for the most recent 2 jobs). If you have 2 jobs open and do topgrading interview of 3 candidates for each job, and each finalist has 8 direct reports in the 2 jobs – do the math – you’ll have profiles of 96 people! Twenty-five might be A players, and you can contact them – at the appropriate time.

If you hire a person with A players in her virtual bench, her A players become yours, too. If you don’t hire someone it wouldn’t be right to pirate their people – until they take another job, which could be soon, since they are “looking.”

   4.  “Maintain” your virtual bench by staying in touch with them. Call, email, have lunch. Forward articles (like this one) that might interest them. Using your virtual bench, hiring will be quick (because you contact As you know), high quality (As are pre-screened), and inexpensive (no recruiter fees).

Be Fair with Your C Players, or Else!

As thousands of managers have Topgraded their teams, I have cautioned them to be impeccably fair with their C players,  or they will regret it.

“I know,” the Topgrader typically responds, “I should be fair because:

• our company values treating everyone with respect,
• I hired or promoted Cs, so I must share some blame for their failures,
• if I’m nasty and fire them, they’ll be more apt to look for some reason to sue,
• and besides, earlier in my career I was a square peg in a round hole, an underperformer, a C player—so I should have empathy.” 

Those are all good reasons to be fair with C players.  We all know that top leaders earn respect by being fair.  So, C players are given a real chance to achieve A player performance.  They are given maybe six months to do it, and if they need training or better tools, those are provided.

But my main reason for cautioning Topgraders to be very fair with C players is this:  Some C players who feel mistreated undermine you and they sabotage your Topgrading efforts.  Many C players are very honorable and do not fit this characterization, but some might feel victimized, do not take responsibility for their failures, and seek revenge.

C players who feel mistreated undermine you and sabotage Topgrading.

I’ve heard the same story again and again:  After the C players were gone it became obvious that they were far more creative and resourceful undercutting Topgrading than they ever were doing their job!

   1.  There is a very predictable pattern that takes place; sort of a “one-two punch” and guess who gets punched – you!

Topgraders might become a little intoxicated with their new Topgrading skills—skills that enable them to improve from 25% to 90% success in hiring and promoting people.  So, instead of “living with” underperformers, worrying that there was only one chance in four of replacing them with a high performer, they aggressively Topgrade.  No longer feeling as though they have to be patient, they squeeze the C players.

   2.  Some C players, feeling the squeeze, become resentful, bitter, and vengeful.

It’s possible some will want to… get you.  They could coalesce into a group, have beers together, bemoan your unfair treatment of them, and pledge to make life difficult for you.  Some C players become passive aggressive.  You can’t see it, but they deliberately miss opportunities for you to look good.  They thrive on “credible deniability.”   They say they are “trying to” implement your new performance management system, but economic changes make your goals unrealistic.  Darn—someone quit, so business pressures caused cancellation of your training session.  Too bad when that A player recruit of yours needed a ride to their airport—“I just didn’t get the message in time (heh, heh).”
After a C player is gone customers say, “I didn’t want to cause problems by complaining to you, but Pat really blew that big proposal last year and that’s why you didn’t get the order.”  Lower level employees come forth and say, “I sensed Mr. C Player was out to get you, but I didn’t actually see anything to prove it.”
To protect yourself from the tyranny of C players, you must be fair and be perceived as fair.  Here’s how:

• Frequently ask, “Is there anything else I can do to help you achieve the A player standard of 75 widgets per month?”

To protect yourself from the tyranny of C players, you must be widely perceived to be fair.

• If you are quite sure the C players will not rise to A player performance, begin recruiting replacements, but root for the (low performing) incumbents. 
• If after a few months your C players realize they won’t succeed, sincerely help them explore other jobs, internally or externally, where they can achieve A player performance.
• Don’t give phony references.  If your C player sales manager had been an A player sales rep, say you’ll recommend him for sales, not sales management.
• Coach the soon-to-leave C players to leave on a high note.  It’s better for a C to quietly find another job than be fired, so encourage taking a day “here or there to look.”  If you sense some hostility, say, “I know you’re frustrated, but remember, you need good references.”
• Whether the person is transferring to a different department or leaving the company, have an appropriate going away party—a cake at lunch, or whatever.
• Do 360 surveys to become aware of any C player tyranny.  In my experience many C players can’t resist nailing topgraders in surveys.  Read their comments and react appropriately.  If you know A players need only bi-weekly staff meetings and you’re pretty sure it must be three C players saying you confuse them by not having enough staff meetings, have more.

 SUMMARY

Get the most out of your C players until they become high performers or leave.  Take a chill pill, so that you don’t condescend and make them feel entitled to… get you!