Topgrading

Note:  A (free) download comes with this article!

Here is the simplest, clearest outline of all 12 Topgrading hiring steps, including what problem they solve, what skill must be learned, and the results that are typically achieved with using each Topgrading tool.

Thirty (plus) years of experience have clearly demonstrated that each and every one of these 12 Topgrading hiring steps is not just desirable, but necessary, in order to achieve 90% hiring success.  Cut corners by ignoring any one of the steps and it’s been well documented that costly mis-hires go up, and up, and up!

The download, the Topgrading Vision document, came from, of all places, a request from Tony Robbins.  He’s asked me two years in a row to be the “hiring guru” at his Summit for entrepreneurs, and while preparing for it Tony asked for a template, dashboard, something to clearly show how, where, and why all the Topgrading hiring parts fit together.  Good idea, Tony, thanks for the suggestion.  Hundreds of beginning Topgraders have bookmarked the Topgrading Vision, so all the steps are clear.

Enough introduction.  Just click here and immediately download the Topgrading Vision!

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE: The new Topgrading Workbook, the one used in all our workshops, is organized around the Topgrading Vision.  Each of the 12 steps is explained, the problem it solves is clarified, and then fun exercises teach the Topgrading skill.  You have to actually use it to get the favorable results!  For more information and to invest in the Topgrading Workbook, click here.

INTRODUCTION: This article helps you answer the very common question, “What is different about Topgrading?”

For years we’ve said, “Topgrading hiring is just common sense on steroids.”  That is supposed to be a cute way of saying that adopting Topgrading practices proven to hire 90% high performers is a lot easier than someone might think, and there is no magic – just applied common sense.  But lately some executives have advised, “Don’t oversimplify Topgrading hiring methods – Topgrading is revolutionary, and before embracing it, people want to know how Topgrading values, principles, and tools differ from what they are accustomed to.”

Okay, here’s what is different about Topgrading:

1.  Hire only high performers.

Companies dedicated to hiring exceptional performers tend to pay exceptional salaries, but that seems to miss the core value of Topgrading hiring: at every salary level there are high and low performers, and Topgrading strives to help you hire only the best performers – not just average candidates but the very best available.

This notion – packing teams with the “best of class” at every salary level – is highly offensive to two groups of people:  1. those devoted to equality of outcomes (“C players need jobs, too.”), and 2. C players (who realize their job will be in jeopardy with Topgrading).  Hand out an article on Topgrading and just watch these two groups coalesce to undercut Topgrading!

2.  “Topgrading” is a made-up word and concept.

In the mid-1990s, my son Geoff Smart (of ghSMART & Co.) and I collaborated on developing a more comprehensive approach to talent management than what existed at the time.  We felt it was important to come up with a word that captured the essence of the spirit and principles that make up this concept.  “Topgrading” was the name we picked.

After all, if you “upgrade” talent you might have a team of 10 C players and replace one with a B player.  Whoopee – you’ve upgraded talent and you have a poor team.  The word Topgrading struck me as capturing the essence – packing the team with all high performers, A players, stars.

“Upgrading” talent can be embraced by C players; Topgrading means no C players.

3.  (Chronological) Topgrading Interview

The idea of a thorough chronological interview, asking a few questions about every job, is not new; every executive search report is the product of such an interview.  But search reports tend to be light on disclosing mistakes, failures, and what bosses would say are weaker points.

What we call the Topgrading Interview has been fine tuned for decades and today there are 16 basic questions about every job, including every success, every failure, every mistake, every key decision, every key relationship, assessments of every boss, estimates of what bosses would say about a candidate’s strengths, weaker points, and overall performance … plus questions about leadership, talent, goals, self appraisal, etc. … plus follow up questions.  Phew!

The innovation in the Topgrading Interview is to not overlook anything.  To achieve 90%+ high performers hired, you need 1,000+ data points.

4.  Focus on 50 Competencies.

In order to achieve 90%+ hiring success, focusing on 4 or 6 “key” competencies, which is what most companies still do, is inadequate.  This partly explains why companies hire only 25% - 30% true high performers.

In hundreds of workshops we’ve trotted out our standard 50 management competencies and challenged the participants to cut the list by even one, with this criterion:  you have to keep it if you would reject a candidate who is Poor or Very Poor on that competency.  No one has been able to cut the list by even one.  Conclusion:  50+ competencies must be accurately appraised.

But isn’t it impossible for an interviewer to accurately judge 50 competencies?

Nope!  At the beginning of workshops almost all managers say they can’t possibly do it, but at the end of the workshop – they’ve done it!   They amaze themselves!

So the good news is that managers trained in Topgrading can objectively and validly rate managerial candidates on all 50 competencies.

5.  Threat of Reference Check (TORC) Technique, the “truth serum of hiring”

This technique is simple but it works, motivating candidates to be honest.  It’s this:  let candidates know at each step in the hiring process that in order to get a job offer THEY will eventually have to arrange for personal reference calls with bosses (and others).

C players drop out and A players are happy to tell the truth and to arrange those calls.

6.  Topgrading Career History Form

Problem:  Pre-screening from resumes produces a mixture of good and bad candidates, since resumes are too often incomplete and hyped.

At a glance the Topgrading Career History form looks like an application form, but it’s much more. It requests all the information NOT included in resumes or application forms but you wish you had – complete salary history, boss ratings, likes and dislikes in jobs, true reasons for leaving an employer, and the “truth serum” – the TORC Technique (#5 above).

The Topgrading Career History Form gets only the best candidates in for face-to-face interviews.

7.  Research Base for Topgrading

There are now about 40 Topgrading professionals who have conducted tens of thousands of in-depth Topgrading Interviews on pre-screened candidates for executive positions.  Literally hundreds of thousands of times we’ve asked interviewees the talent question – what did you inherit, what did you end up with, and what did you do in terms of hiring, coaching, firing?

The point:  we’ve heard about every hiring method under the sun and never stop improving Topgrading methods.

8.  The Most Credible Case Studies

My son’s company and mine publish unusual case studies in our books and articles:  CEOs of NAMED leading companies state that their companies as a whole are doing better because of Topgrading.

9.  Managers (like you if you are an A player) can achieve 90% high performers hired.

Thanks to Jack Welch (GE Chairman at the time) approving Topgrading methods including two interviewers, the Tandem Topgrading Interview, many companies wanted to copy GE.  It’s now proven – trained A player managers can achieve 80% - 90% HIGH performers hired.

10.  Important Measures of Hiring Success

The HR world has been measuring hiring success in questionable ways – “cost to hire” people and “time to fill” jobs.  Trouble is, hiring goals are achieved if there are poor performers who are hired quickly and cheaply. Topgraders systematically measure percent HIGH performers hired.

The Topgrading Cost of Mis-Hires document is an original tool to quickly measure those costs; in only 15 minutes hiring managers become aghast at the high costs of their mis-hire, and that motivates them to learn the best hiring practices.

11. Ongoing Refinement of Interviewer Skills

Topgrading interviewers go through the Topgrading Interviewer Feedback Form, a checklist of a couple dozen good interviewer techniques, and simply give each other brief feedback and a couple of suggestions for how to do better next time.

12.  Candidates Arrange Personal Reference Calls with Former Bosses.

This is the follow through part of the TORC Technique (#5 above), and it’s simple:  after the Tandem Topgrading Interview, if the candidate and the interviewers want to proceed, the interviewers ask the candidate to do the work of arranging calls with the people the interviewers choose to talk with – usually 4 bosses, 2 peers, and 2 subordinates.  Conducting these phone interviews assures that the “truth serum” worked.

13.  Coaching New Hires Right Away

Candidates are promised coaching soon after they join, “to smooth your onboarding, assure you are productive quickly, and to begin a long-term development process right away.”  Bingo – A players love it!

CONCLUSION: Topgrading is an organic set of hiring best practices, most of which destroy what had been common hiring myths.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE: We’ve released a brand new Topgrading Workbook, the same workbook we use in our workshops.  It has a clear explanation of each of the 12 Topgrading hiring steps, the same exercises to teach each step, and lots of new tools and methods.  Click here for more information or to order.

FREE DOWNLOADS: 1) 50-page eBook, an overview of Topgrading – click here, 2) Cost of Mis-Hires Form – click here,  3) Topgrading Vision, listing the 12 problems Topgrading solves, the skills necessary to learn, and results – click here.

The New Topgrading Workbook!

Hi Topgraders,

You have asked for a simple, straightforward Topgrading Workbook, with all the latest Topgrading tools, and here it is!

The Topgrading Workbook is THE manual we use in our Topgrading Workshops.  It clearly explains all 12 Topgrading hiring steps and then there are the same fun, practical exercises we use in workshops.

To purchase the Topgrading Workbook, click now to get a tool that will be your personal tutor or the only handout you’ll need for your internal Topgrading workshops.

FIRE YOUR C PLAYERS NOW!

“Give a lot, expect a lot, and if you don’t get it, PRUNE.”    ……………. Tom Peters

Topgrading is not just about hiring but includes firing people who are not crucial, particularly in a weak economy.  Some have called this Bottomgrading, but that’s a bit tacky.

In the past few months I’ve met with over 1,000 business owners in a series of workshops, seminars, and speeches.  I’ve asked, “In this down economy, how many of you took a fresh look at your strategy, tweaked it, and laid off low performers that didn’t fit your revised strategy?”  Almost all raised their hands, indicating they did all three!  Good for them!  They are adapting to survive, and adaptation requires removing low performers.

But here is the key question we’re addressing today:

“How many of you are uncertain about whether to keep, replace, or otherwise get rid of some of your key people?”

Answer: almost all of the 1,000 business owners raised their hands.  Having been through half a dozen economic downturns, I know that managers easily remove the obvious low performers, but hesitate to remove some people who at times seem really good, but weak at other times, and … “I just don’t know if I should keep them.”

Fortunately, there are time-tested ways to get MUCH deeper insights into the talent and potentials of your key people.

How to Assess Your Top People

“Motivation is simple.  You eliminate those who are not motivated.” …  Lou Holtz

There are four recommended ways to validly and objectively assess your key people.  The tools 3 and 4 are best, but let’s start with the easiest.

1.  Rate your key people yourself.

If this is the step you have already taken, jump to #2.  If not …

Rate people A, B, or C player, and for B and C players, rate them as having A potential or not.

Ask yourself, “Are my people in the right jobs now?”  “Are there people who were A players for jobs I no longer need … so they should be redeployed into a job where they can perform at the A level or leave?”  “Who are the managers with the potential to become A players?”

This easy and commonplace method of figuring out who should go or stay unfortunately leads to doubts about some, so following are 3 better Topgrading methods to get the answer.

2.  Conduct Team Ratings.

With the deadwood pruned (to use Tom Peter’s phrase) look at the rest of your team.  If you are certain your top 3 or 4 people are A players for executing your newly considered strategy, as a team the 3 or 4 of you do the ratings of the next 20 (or whatever).  Don’t just rely on your own opinions; your A player managers can lend a bit more objectivity to your conclusions.

Talk for 30 minutes to an hour, reviewing each person – discuss their performance for the past 3 years and list their strengths and weaker points; discuss the job they must do in the next couple of years (including their accountabilities and competencies), and then decide whether they are A, B, or C players and if not A, do they show A potential?

Keep only the As and A potentials.  (I know – the title of the article says fire C players, but Topgraders also fire Bs who do not have A potentials.)

BUT WHAT IF THE TEAM CAN’T AGREE ON WHETHER SOME  HAVE A POTENTIALS OR NOT?

This is where two great, proven Topgrading methods come in, for these methods will make you very sure of whether you should keep someone or let them go.

3.  Audit the Team Using the Thorough Topgrading Method.

My first project for GE (15 years ago) was training internal managers to assess and coach internal people.  Jack Welch was frustrated that only about 25% of the people promoted turned out to be A players a year later.   Bosses can rate current performance well, but few are good at picking people to promote.

So I trained line managers and HR people to do … you guessed it! … tandem Topgrading Interviews, the same type of interview Topgraders use to hire people.  But instead of external reference checks, internal interviews with bosses (not just the current boss), peers, and subordinates are done.  GE jumped from 25% to over 90% success promoting people.

The same Topgrading methods (with tweaks) are used to audit talent in their present job, pick people for promotion, and assess external candidates for hire.

These assessments give you “missile lock” on talent – exactly who should stay, who have potential for promotion.  Only the A players and A potentials are kept, and others are redeployed (they get a job in the company where they can be an A player or leave).

This Topgrading audit approach is highly credible … so that weak people quietly go find another job.  But it requires that the audits are conducted by two A player managers, trained in Topgrading methods.

Do you have the internal managers who can do this now?  Do you have A player managers who could learn Topgrading methods and do this soon?

4.  Assessments and Coaching by a Topgrading Professional.

Sorry – this is self-serving, but if your managers can’t do Topgrading audits, maybe asking Topgrading professionals to do the audit and coaching makes sense.

In our 7-hour DVD Topgrading Tool Kit, there are quotes from successful CEO Topgraders who recommend, the first time around, using Topgrading professionals to provide the “second opinion” on whether someone should go or stay, and to coach everyone assessed.  Underperformers are coached to leave and As and A potentials are coached to contribute the most.

Usually Topgrading assessors gather so much valid information that we can say to a C player, “Pat, not only have you failed to achieve the results you said you’d achieve, but everyone around you believes you didn’t do what you should have and, on top of that, your coworkers really do NOT believe you will ever have what it takes to succeed.  Based on coaching thousands of managers I can’t see how you’ll be able to stay, so maybe we should talk about what job you can look for.  I think I know what jobs you’d do well at and enjoy and what developmental activities will really be useful to you in the next couple of years.”

Coaching the A players and A potentials is also crucial.  They love the feedback and recommendations and implement them conscientiously … and by the way, the best way to keep your A players is to develop them.

In Short, you owe it to yourself and your company to be sure about who should go or stay.  Topgrading methods will provide the answers.  And as a bonus, a down economy provides a million  A players, at all salary levels, to join your team.

FEATURED RESOURCES: Rather than fire C players, there’s the best way on the planet to not hire them to begin with!  Check out the new Topgrading Quick Start Program.  With only an hour of learning you can be using some of the most powerful Topgrading tools, and experiencing the power of Topgrading to dramatically reduce those costly mis-hies.  To learn more click here.

Those of you who have read the latest edition of Topgrading may remember that the statistics on promoting success are as dismal as those on hiring success.  Why?  Too many promotions are based on the candidate’s performance in their present job.  The candidate’s strengths and weaknesses in relation to the new job are not scrutinized closely enough.  When that happens, too often you get to experience the “Peter Principal” first hand.  (The Peter Principle is the idea that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent.)

Next time you consider someone for promotion, especially if that person will be moving from an individual contributor position to a management position, go through the following steps.

 First, create a detailed Job Scorecard for the new position if one does not already exist.  Next, conduct a Tandem Topgrading Interview with the candidate.  Ideally, the interview should not be conducted by the candidate’s current boss.  However, if that is unavoidable, be sure the other interviewer is an unbiased third party.  After the Topgrading Interview, do 360 interviews with 8 to 10 coworkers.  Those 360 interviews should focus on the new job. 

Follow that process and you will be as successful in promoting high performers as you are in hiring them.