With a less than shining economy, it is more important than ever to make your dollar stretch as far as it can. Beyond going green and trading hardcopy versions of documents for digital ones, how can your company get the most bang for its buck? We suggest stepping up efficiency starting with developing your organization’s most valuable asset, its employees.
It’s on every executive’s mind, “Will the return be a higher value than the investment?” Not one supervisor would purchase a worn-out, problems-included, less beneficial piece of equipment when he has an opportunity for an extremely efficient competitor’s version for the same price. So why would any supervisor employ a C player when he could benefit so much more from an A player? Some don’t even realize that their employees are on the lower end of the performance scale. Organizations that hire solely based on interviews and resumés are missing out on the bigger picture: this potential employee might have experience and education, but does he fit well with the job and the culture of the company? Behavior, motivators and values assessments along with job matching will answer these questions and ensure that the organization is getting the most out of its investment on its most valuable (and most likely expensive) asset.
The time and effort invested to turn your C teams into A teams is well worth it. Both employers and managers may be concerned regarding an adverse effect on their productivity when they take time from daily activities for assessment surveys, and participation in professional development and job matching sessions. However, they can rest assured that this investment in defining jobs in terms of behavior, rewards and attributes will result in the ability to better match employees with jobs. When a person is well matched, instead of the stress of struggling to keep up, the employee’s energy flows into building momentum on the job, and he enjoys an experience of success. Productivity goes up and labor costs come down because there is a higher level of performance requiring fewer staff members. Not only that, but employees who like their jobs take fewer sick days and tend to show up on time because they want to come to work.
When thinking about the return on investing in A players, it is also important to look at the downfalls of keeping your C players. Low performers have a poor quality of output for several reasons, some of which can be attributed to their lack of engagement to the job because they are not well matched in definable terms of behavior, rewards or attributes. It is undeniable that when an employee isn’t engaged, their productivity suffers. But there is also a wider cost to the organization of lost opportunity. There are untold business benefits that the person could have contributed if their energy and creativity were flowing into their work. Imagine an employee who does not fit well with his key accountabilities. This employee is generally the one standing at the water cooler or surfing the Internet to entertain himself. And when that person goes beyond being disengaged to becoming negative, the effect on the organization can be devastating because the potential for teams to collaborate effectively is lost.
While it might seem like a time consuming effort to transform your C teams into A teams, the benefits of top performers in your organization heavily outweigh the steps it takes to get those winning teams in order. Still concerned about your ROI? Let’s break it down. What is being invested? Time and effort to distinguish which employees are top performers and which need some guidance. After identifying your two groups, time will need to be spent developing C players into A players. Now let’s review the return for your organization. When more top performers are present, there will be a higher level of efficiency, which means greater productivity and in turn an increase in profits. Those are the monetary advantages, but there are other benefits that may be overlooked. Top performers are such because they have an excellent job match. This suggests the employee is happy doing their job. An office full of content employees means an office with great morale, leading to positive talk about the organization and a stronger brand. In short, the benefits from having A players in the organization is unparalleled to improvements made on other assets.
Agreed. It begins with selection, attracting and retaining A players. There is also so much more that can be done in developing the team as both individuals and working on the team’s collective approach.
Agreed. Unfortunately, those leading are so stressed and say “I don’t have the time for personal development of my team. I need results!” It doesn’t take much to change things, it just takes consistent practice. That’s where people fall short.