There is a mistaken belief out there that you can not fill every position in a company with an 'A' player; that to do so would be expensive and border on the insane. Humbug. You can and some companies are close to doing just that through Topgrading.
Last week I was told by a senior manager of a global company that they had a personnel strategy of 'not employing the best people (or 'A' players) in certain roles.' Their definition of whether a person was an 'A' player or not was driven by the role rather than the competence of the person in the role. The trouble with this definition is that it can lead to a mind-set (as evidenced by the senior manager) that non-strategic personnel are by default 'B' players, and accompanied with this mind-set is the added risk that they are treated as such.
That is why companies so desperately need to Topgrade. The fundamental premise of Topgrading is that all roles can and should be filled with 'A' players and research has shown that those companies that have embraced Topgrading have outperformed similar companies in their industry. It's not rocket science - think about it; if you had the best people available at all levels working in your organization, think how well strategy would be executed. In a survey conducted by the Hay Group (UK) amongst 200 Senior and Middle managers in companies with more than 250 employees, '38% of senior managers were 'paralysed' by the ineffectiveness of the people lower down the management line.' Topgrading eliminates that from occuring.
In closing, let me leave you with this thought - GE began Topgrading when Jack Welch was its CEO. If your company is not thinking Topgrading, then it is way behind the ball game and has probably lost the 'war on talent.'
ian
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