How to Increase the Number of A-Players on Your Team

A-players are the most productive people in your organization, and they consistently live your core values. They thrive in an environment of setting priorities, meeting goals, and being accountable.

Did you know that one of the main reasons A-players leave organizations is because of the tolerance of C-players.?

When I work with CEOs and their leadership teams, we make it a habit to do a talent assessment twice a year. It is here, where we assess employees based on two criteria; their performance (production) and living your core values. 

This approach provides an insightful view from 10,000 feet. 

To create this assessment, begin by creating a 4 square matrix. Label the Y-axis core values with a range of 0-100%; (honoring and living the core values); and label the X-axis as performance, with a scale of 0-100% (meeting all performance goals).

As the CEO, you plot your direct reports (with your coach). 
With the leadership team, plot their direct reports with all the leadership members in the room. 
It's important to note that some leaders can be hard scorers compared to others. Having others present (during this exercise) acts as a form of checks and balances. 
By the way, we don't score anyone present in the meeting. 

Here are the four-quadrant results.

• Top Right Quadrant-A-players are high in performance and high in living the core values. 
• Top Left Quadrant-B-players are high in core values but need to improve performance
• Bottom Right Quadrant-B/C-players are high in performance but low in living the core values
• Bottom Left-C-players are not living the core values, and they are not hitting performance objectives. ​

As part of the team, we then set out to take action. This assessment process is a waste of valuable time if you do not take action. 

What are the actions? 

• A-players: the goal is to retain them, so the action is to recognize them and begin to understand their career desires 
• B-players: we want to coach them. Coaching them to be an A-player. What skills, abilities do they need to improve, how does their mindset have to change so they can significantly improve their productivity/performance? 
• B/C-players: they merit a warning. Employees who do not fit your values and do not live out your values can be harmful to your organization in the long run. 
• C-players: serious consideration about moving them on. Have a tough conversation, create a time-based action plan with precise performance and values changes that MUST happen. Then make a decision. (These meetings should include HR.)

How are you going to hit your 1-year, 3-year, and 10-year goals? 

Too often, I/we picture our employees falling on the normal distribution curve. A Few A's and a few C's and the bulk are B players. We say to ourselves; everybody can't be an A-player. 

At Thought iQ, we don't support this view. 
We want an organization full of A-players. We believe you should be intentional about increasing A-players. Retain you're A-players and develop rock-solid B-players that you can coach into A-players. 
If you are serious, we suggest setting a target for the number of A-players you desire or the % of your workforce that are A-players. Just like you create a revenue or profit goal, set an annual goal, and track A-player growth. 

This assessment process is not to replace any of the human resources essential functions. Instead, it shines the light (on a category of players) in your organization and allows us to build a team that thrives. 

We know that successful organizations are learning organizations, and successful leaders are learning, growing, and developing their people. They do this by providing learning opportunities, coaching, and feedback. 

Assess with your team. 

If you are the CEO/President, then do it with your leadership team. 

• What are the insights? 
• How does the assessment make you feel? 

It's time to see how you can start to increase the number of A-players in your organization. 

Set a target and begin to track/measure. 

Let me ask you, are you building a team of A-players? 

Imagine the impact. 

​"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." -Andrew Carnegie

---