Leadership
True Leadership - Issue #10
By Tom McCarthy
Feb 22, 2006 - 5:19:00 PM

Quality Team = Quality Results

I was listening to an Executive Vice President from one of my client companies address an audience of senior executives and she kept telling them how they needed to pay special attention to the people that they had chosen to be on their team. She said, “Your careers are being decided by the quality of the people you have on your team. Strive to have every position filled by an A+ player!”

One of the major factors in the success of your organization is human capital. The ideal situation is to have an organization filled with “A” Players. An “A” player is defined as the top 10% of talent available for a given position at a given salary level. “A” Players are the “best of class” at their position. Keep in mind that “A” players are not superhuman. They may not even be an “A” player in more than one category. They are simply the best available at a given position. Your job is to look hard enough to find them.

“A” players figure out how to make valuable management initiatives work while “C” players kill good ideas. Companies with too many “C” players lose market share, lose profitability, lose, lose, and lose. Leaders should spend approximately 25% of their time finding and developing “A” players. This time consists of:

1. Hiring (both externally and internally) “A” Players.


2. Developing systems that support recruiting and retaining “A” Players.


3. Evaluating the performance of your current team.


4. Coaching for performance improvement and development of talent.


5. Eliminating chronic under performing team members.

I know that it's not easy to fill your team with “A” Players. You probably have some obstacles in your way, but don't let those obstacles stop you from trying. I promise you the effort you make to hire and develop “A” players will pay off for you many times over. Remember, your success is being decided by the quality of players you have on your team.

Make it an outstanding day,

Tom McCarthy

Visit us online at www.tommccarthy.com and www.fireuptraining.com