Topgrading

Another title of this article could be:  How to Say No to a Boss Who Has Very Outrageous Expectations

Of the 6,500 executives I’ve interviewed, asking 16 basic questions about every full-time job, fully one-third have failed in a job because they couldn’t say no to a demanding boss.

Meet Hal, candidate for Division General Manager, 10 years ago.  I interviewed him, labeled him an A player with CEO potentials, and he was hired.  Three months later the CEO said Hal was doing a great job turning the division around, scrapping low-profit products, consolidating plants, and Topgrading.  Great – Hal is proving to be an A player!

A year later I had a scheduled follow-up coaching session to help him tweak his Individual Development Plan, to keep him on track to become CEO of this or another billion dollar company.  “Cancel your coaching session with Hal,” the CEO said, “because he’s failed; I gave him some additional responsibilities to keep him challenged and growing, but I’ll probably have to let him go!”

“Impossible,” I said, “I’ll keep the coaching session and find out what’s gone wrong, but there’s no way Hal can be failing unless there is some personal crisis or something.”

Long story short – the CEO had tripled Hal’s job, essentially giving him three divisions to run; Hal was working 15 hours per day and failing.  I suggested that the CEO narrow Hal’s job to the original Division GM job; he did, Hal succeeded, and today Hal is successfully running a $2.5 billion company, as CEO.

Bottom line, Hal’s CEO was outrageous in expecting Hal to do three jobs, but Hal was a chicken, fearful of saying no to the CEO.  Both are responsible for Hal’s failure.

“JUST SAY NO”

Picture yourself in the room with, say, Jack Welch, who says to you, “Pete, we have a problem.  We need to send Joe to China for six months and unfortunately he has no back-up.  It’s a lot to ask, but would you be a good soldier, a team player, and do your best to hold his fort together for a few months?”

Gulp – how the heck can you say no?  “Sorry, Jack, but there is no friggin way you’ll be satisfied with my just holding Joe’s fort together – you’ll expect those three product launches to be successful.  And I have a crisis that is already taking me 12 hours per day to address.  If I say no this means I’m not a good soldier, not a team player, not an A player, so of course I have to suck it up and say yes.”  That might be the truth, but of course you can’t utter those words!

Thousands of executives, mostly A players, have described the agony of taking on more than they could do, struggling, and then failing.  The blip in their resume is usually significant, resulting in the next job being smaller.  After all, it doesn’t sound A player-like to admit one could not “take on some additional responsibilities.”

HERE’S HOW TO SAY NO

Let’s put you back in the office with Jack Welch, and you instantly KNOW that you’ll either kill yourself or fail if you say yes to him.  The challenge is to refuse the overwhelming responsibilities while retaining the respect of the demanding boss.

The thousands of executives who have successfully said no followed this 1-2-3 step process:

1.  Be positive. “Jack, I’m honored that you have the confidence in me, and no doubt I’d learn a lot.”

2.  Ask for a couple days to analyze the situation.  “But, I’ve just reorganized and have complex plans for my job, and I don’t know how complex Joe’s job is.  How about my taking just two days to analyze both situations, to be sure I can develop a plan to succeed.  The last thing you or I want is for me, a pole vaulter, to promise I can learn the high hurdles enough to medal and then fail.  I’ll get back to you Wednesday with a decision and a plan, for your approval.  Okay?”

Would Jack want a decision without a brief but thorough analysis?  How can Jack discourage a plan to succeed? That metaphor – sports – makes it common sense to try to figure out if someone can do another sport, and do it well enough to medal (succeed).  Note that you stayed positive, not using words like “possible failure,” and your attitude was that of a team player.

3.  Show confidence. “Jack. I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that with my reorg and new strategy, I believe I will turn the division around and the shareholders will benefit.  But if I take on Joe’s division, I’ll fail at both.  After looking at Joe’s division, I have a suggestion:  put Sam, head of marketing, in an Acting GM role because Sam knows a lot about product launches and that’s got to be the focus this year.  I’d be happy to help Sam with the financial analysis and Topgrading parts of the job he lacks experience in.”

You’re confident because you did the analysis of both jobs, you looked Jack in the eye and said without embarrassment that you’d fail if you took on Joe’s job, and you offered a positive solution.

ANOTHER WAY TO SAY NO

Looking through my extensive files, I was reminded of an alternative way managers have said no without sounding weak, wimpy.  Those managers create a spreadsheet to show their responsibilities and the amount of time they spend in each, monthly, and their “no” sounds like this:  “Jack, I have four major projects that are taking 60 hours per week, not just for me but for my team.  If I take on this additional project, my team will fail, so let’s prioritize and see which are the most important projects to keep.”

NO GUARANTEES

Obviously the above solutions fail to address the possibility that the boss is truly outrageous in making demands.  But if that is your situation, blame yourself for taking a job reporting to someone impossible to please.

All of the executives who experienced such a career failure swore they would a) perform due diligence on bosses in the future, by asking others what they like and dislike about the boss, and b) not accept a job offer reporting to someone with a pattern of having unrealistic expectations.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Wow, do we have a recommended resource for you today! It truly is the best product ever to teach the Topgrading methods that are the world’s best practices not just for hiring, but for auditing your talent and promoting with terrific success. It’s 7 1/2 hours of high definition DVDs with all the latest Topgrading methods explained by me, with great graphics. But also there is a real life case study so you learn the job scorecard for a real job, study the career history form of a real candidate named Erik, see me and Erik in split screen as I conduct a telephone screening interview with him, observe a tandem Topgrading Interview with him, watch and listen to a real reference call with Erik’s boss, and watch me coach him in a real life setting.

So, whether you are an individual manager wanting to master Topgrading, or you have a team needing thorough training, or you are interested in train-the-trainer, this is the total, total package with the DVDs, Topgrading Workbook, other books and guides, a 3-month license, on-line resources, and quarterly conference calls with Topgraders and me.

Click here to see the basic material, but you’ll want to click on where it says to learn more.

Does Topgrading “translate” well into other cultures?  You bet!  During the past 6 months I’ve spent most of my professional time working with global rollouts of companies such as Barclays, DTZ (global commercial real estate management), Argo (insurance), and several other companies in Russia, Europe, South America, and Asia.  Following are key conclusions, insights, and advice:

1.  USE TOPGRADING METHODS NOT JUST FOR HIRING BUT FOR PROMOTING PEOPLE AND FOR AUDITING YOUR PEOPLE TO SEE WHO REALLY ARE THE A, B, AND C PLAYERS.

Companies usually begin using Topgrading methods to hire the best people, but soon realize that those same methods, with a simple tweak, can dramatically improve their success promoting people.

A survey of Global 100 heads of HR showed only 25% of the people they promote into management turn out to be high performers, except for the Topgraders in the room who reported 75%+ success.  My first project with GE was improving their promoting methods and GE soon achieved 90%+ promoting success.

How?  Simple – trained Topgrading interviewers do the same chronological interview they use for hiring, but instead of conducting external reference checks they interview internal people – bosses, peers, and subordinates.

Global companies struggle to understand who are their A, B, and C players in other locations.  A terrific use of Topgrading methods is to parachute in trained Topgrading interviewers who conduct the interview and just as in promoting, interview internal bosses, peers, and subordinates.

Bottom line:  use all 3 applications of Topgrading globally – hiring, promoting, and auditing talent.

2.  ROLLING OUT TOPGRADING IS NO MORE DIFFICULT THAN ANY OTHER GLOBAL CHANGE.

The good news is that global companies find it quite easy to make tweaks to accommodate Topgrading other cultures.

Recently I was in Shanghai, training managers from several parts of China, Singapore, Australia, and Europe, and did not even need a translator.  English truly is the global language of business.

If translations are necessary, the key ones are PowerPoint (slides for workshops), the Topgrading Workbook (with all 12 Topgrading hiring steps plus the latest Topgrading forms and guides), and the 50-page eBook, Avoid Costly Mis-Hires. (My permission for translations and edits is required, but I almost always give it.)

Cautions: Do a double translation – into the language, and from the language back into English.  There will be some weird translations, but this step surfaces them.  For example, there is no Russian word for the most important of 50 management competencies – resourcefulness – so we had to create a paragraph translation, and that took some, uh, resourcefulness.

Also, when using a translator in workshops, slow down 30% and simplify content at least that amount.

3.  TOPGRADING IS LEGAL EVERYWHERE WE KNOW OF.

Chapter 12 (Legalities of Topgrading) of my big book, Topgrading, was written by the largest employment law firm in the US, Seyfarth Shaw, and they vetted all Topgrading methods not only in the US but a lot of other countries (through their partners).

4.  “TWEAK” THE TOPGRADING CAREER HISTORY FORM FOR EACH COUNTRY.

Even if a translation is not required, a few sections – different education systems, currencies, and military requirements – require different terms for each country.  Our British friends will say that indeed a translation is required so the form uses English, not American.

We believe the Topgrading Career History Form is the best pre-selection instrument on the planet.  The TORC Technique is now in the Instructions (”At an appropriate time, near a job offer, you will be asked to arrange personal reference calls with supervisors and others you have worked with in the past decade”).  The form now has supervisor ratings, true reasons for leaving, and ratings on key competencies - all of which are quite accurate because of the TORC Technique.

Companies that do not use the Topgrading Career History Form have a problem – they screen from deceptive resumes, so they waste a lot of time in phone screens, and worst of all, they end up interviewing too many C players.  The Topgrading Career History Form saves a lot of time and, more importantly, assures that only the best candidates will come in for interviews, so it’s important to make those few modifications for each country.

5.  THE WORDING IN THE TOPGRADING INTERVIEW GUIDE SHOULD BE MODIFIED FOR DIFFERENT CULTURES.

In some cultures the wording of some questions is too direct.  For example, asking, “We all make mistakes – what mistakes did you make in that job?” might be changed to, “What are some ways you might have achieved even more?”  Or, in cultures that favor teamwork and downplay individual contributions, instead of asking, “What were your successes, your accomplishments,” you might ask, “In what ways might your efforts have contributed to the team successes?”

6.  TOPGRADING INTERVIEWS SHOULD BE CONDUCTED WITH A TANDEM PARTNER, A LOCAL A PLAYER TRAINED IN TOPGRADING METHODS.

Locals can “read between the lines” with respect to words used and body language.   For example, Americans expect interviewees to look them in the eye but not stare, and can leap to the wrong conclusion when interviewing someone from a culture in which eye contact is considered hostile.

Caution: Become a student of the culture – ask lots and lots of questions about body language, values, history, attire, etc.

7.  BEST PRACTICES IN COACHING ARE UNIVERSAL.

Coaching is part of Topgrading and best practices that are routine in the US, such as using email 360 surveys to track a manager’s progress changing his leadership style, are not commonplace in other cultures.  No problem – just introduce these tools.  Ditto for asking individuals to compose their Individual Development Plan with What they are going to do, Why, When, and How the results will be measured.

“But we’ve never done anything like this” can be true, but when the methods and benefits are stated, and the people in authority express confidence in those methods, people in all cultures comply.  At the risk of being redundant – be sure to modify language for the culture!

As CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch was the first CEO to rollout Topgrading methods globally. The first version was for assessing and coaching candidates for promotion. So, overnight managers around the world learned to create job scorecards with measurable accountabilities; hundreds of managers were trained in the tandem Topgrading Interview, and used the Topgrading Interview Guide.

8.  THE CEO MUST DRIVE GLOBALIZATION OF TOPGRADING.

As with any meaningful change, Topgrading must be driven by the CEO.  Sure, Human Resources is key, but managers can “game” Topgrading if the CEO is not a Topgrader.

9.  IMPLEMENT TOPGRADING FIRST IN THE HOME COUNTRY, TO WORK OUT THE DETAILS.

Then roll it out globally.  There is an exception:  A CEO who has previously Topgraded an organization can implement it globally all at once, confident that the tweaks will be minor and that the company will have a lot more A players, faster, with the global rollout all at once.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Wow, do we have a recommended resource for you today! It truly is the best product ever to teach the Topgrading methods that are the world’s best practices not just for hiring, but for auditing your talent and promoting with terrific success. It’s 7 1/2 hours of high definition DVDs with all the latest Topgrading methods explained by me, with great graphics. But also there is a real life case study so you learn the job scorecard for a real job, study the career history form of a real candidate named Erik, see me and Erik in split screen as I conduct a telephone screening interview with him, observe a tandem Topgrading Interview with him, watch and listen to a real reference call with Erik’s boss, and watch me coach him in a real life setting.

So, whether you are an individual manager wanting to master Topgrading, or you have a team needing thorough training, or you are interested in train-the-trainer, this is the total, total package with the DVDs, Topgrading Workbook, other books and guides, a 3-month license, on-line resources, and quarterly conference calls with Topgraders and me.

Click here to see the basic material, but you’ll want to click on where it says to learn more.

This short article spells out the quick and dirty “Cliff Notes” version of Topgrading methods that are truly best practices NOT just for hiring but for auditing your talent and for promoting people with great success.

We’ll start with Topgrading hiring: the 1 – 2 – 3 punch, the 3 most important practices any manager can use to hire better, and then you’ll learn the simple tweaks that can show you who are your A, B, and C players and can help you triple your success promoting people.

(Experienced Topgraders, please forward this article to managers who, as you well know, can literally use these methods today and immediately improve their hiring and promoting “batting averages,” and also to audit their talent to see who really are As, Bs, and Cs, and which of their people have the best potentials for the future.)

The Topgrading hiring advice that follows may seem like common sense but it’s not the common practice even in many Global 100 companies.  Hundreds of companies and thousands of managers have doubled and tripled their hiring success following these methods:

1.  Use the Topgrading “Truth Serum,” the TORC Technique.

TORC stands for Threat of Reference Check.  At every step in the hiring process let candidates know that just prior to a job offer they will have to arrange personal reference calls with supervisors and others you choose.

C players, who probably fudged their resumes, don’t want you talking to their former supervisors, and they know they can’t get them to talk anyway, so they drop out of the hiring process.  Good!  A players, whose resumes are accurate and complete, want to arrange calls with former supervisors. Good!

2.  No matter what hiring methods you currently use, add the Topgrading Interview.

Okay, I’ve written 4 books on this interviewing method and every manager we know of who achieves 90%+ high performers hired uses this interview.  And in our 2-day workshop the entire second day teaches it and gives managers coaching.  However, here is the essence of a Topgrading Interview in a nutshell:

Starting with the first fulltime job and coming forward to the present job, ask 7 basic questions plus follow-up questions:

1. What were your responsibilities?
2. What were your successes and how did you achieve them?
3. What were your mistakes — what do you wish you’d done differently and what lessons were learned?
4. What was your supervisor’s name and what did you like and dislike about him/her?
5. What’s your best guess as to what that supervisor would say, in a personal reference call you would arrange, were your strengths, weaker points, and overall performance?
6. Of your direct reports, how many A, B, and C players did you inherit, how many in each category did you end up with, and what did you do with respect to coaching, hiring, and firing?
7. Why did you leave that job?

What’s so brilliant about a thorough chronological interview?  It’s the patterns that are revealed about literally dozens of competencies.  Those patterns reveal what a candidate is really like today.

For example, suppose a candidate, taking the TORC “truth serum,” admits that her supervisor 10 years ago would criticize her for being disorganized, and she admits that her biggest mistake was lacking a follow-up system; so, she missed due dates and went over budget on 3 of 8 projects.

Okay, that’s useful, but the pattern is most revealing and as you discuss her performance in the past decade you will learn if she got organized or not.  Those patterns give you extremely deep and accurate insights into all key competencies.

3.  Ask finalists to arrange personal reference calls with supervisors and others you choose.

The TORC Technique is not an idle threat; you absolutely should talk with supervisors and others, but make the candidate do the work of arranging them.  After you have gotten descriptions of all supervisors (and others), you choose which ones you’d like to talk with.

Chances are you want to talk with all supervisors in the past 10 years (if the candidate doesn’t want you to talk with the current supervisor, okay, but ask the candidate to arrange a call with someone at the supervisor’s level who left the company).

THE WORLD’S BEST PRACTICES FOR AUDITING TALENT AND PROMOTING PEOPLE

Topgraders usually learn hiring methods first and find that with just a small tweak, they can promote with much greater success and they can audit their people to learn who is the most talented.

My first Topgrading project with GE was not to improve hiring, but to improve their success promoting people.  And it worked!

I met with the #1 Human Resource executives at Global 100 companies, and they said only 25% of the people they promoted into management turned out to be high performers, except for the Topgraders in the room, who said they doubled or tripled their promoting success using Topgrading methods.

How did GE and others do it?  Simple – train managers in Topgrading methods and instead of using external reference calls, arrange internal interviews with boss(es), peers, and subordinates. GE improved to over 90% of those promoted turning out to be high performers.

Finally, do you need deeper insights into your current managers?  In these problematic times former high performers slip and it’s common to wonder if they still have what it takes.  Or do you simply want to know who are your a, B, and C players?

The Topgrading audit methodology is exactly the same as the promoting methods just described with one tweak:  in promoting people you have one job in mind, and in the audit you look broadly at where someone can be an A player.

CONGRATULATIONS! If you use that Topgrading 1 – 2 – 3 punch, you may not achieve 90% high performers hired and promoted, but you will know you’ve been far more thorough, and you’ve gotten much deeper insights into candidates, than ever before.  And simply by using internal rather than external “references,” you can use the same basic methods to audit your talent, to get much deeper insights into who really are the high potentials.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Wow, do we have a recommended resource for you today!  It truly is the best product ever to teach the Topgrading methods that are the world’s best practices not just for hiring, but for auditing your talent and promoting with terrific success.  It’s 7 1/2 hours of high definition DVDs with all the latest Topgrading methods explained by me, with great graphics.  But also there is a real life case study so you learn the job scorecard for a real job, study the career history form of a real candidate named Erik, see me and Erik in split screen as I conduct a telephone screening interview with him, observe a tandem Topgrading Interview with him, watch and listen to a real reference call with Erik’s boss, and watch me coach him in a real life setting.

So, whether you are an individual manager wanting to master Topgrading, or you have a team needing thorough training, or you are interested in train-the-trainer, this is the total, total package with the DVDs, Topgrading Workbook, other books and guides, a 3-month license, on-line resources, and quarterly conference calls with Topgraders and me.

Click here to see the basic material, but you’ll want to click on where it says to learn more.

Topgrading “sounds good” to every manager, but we frequently hear from Topgraders , “There are doubters who say that doubling and tripling hiring success sounds too good to be true, so what can I tell them?”

You can drop names of well known companies that Topgraded, expecting to impress the doubter.  And you can say,  “Read Chapter 5 of Topgrading – it’s loaded with case studies of leading companies whose CEOs swear to the truth in the stats, typically 25% - 90% A players hired.”  People rationally believe this but people want to feel the results … somehow … to be really convinced Topgrading saves a lot of money.

This Topgrading Tips article walks you through two short exercises to give any doubters that “feel.”  We’ve used these exercises in workshops for years – exercises in which doubters  “run the numbers” with their own conservative assumptions.

To get to a bottom line, in workshops the average attendee concludes, “Wow, every time I hire someone, including bad hires and good hires, using Topgrading methods I’ll probably put an average of $250,000 on the bottom line and I’ll perform better and get faster promotions.”

Exercise #1:  Estimate the percent high performers you’ve hired in recent years.

This exercise takes less than a minute.  Just think – what percent of the people I’ve hired turned out to be high performers, A players, starts, what I expected … with the only other category MIS-hire.

Our research over the years shows the average rate of good hires to be 25%.  Of course, if you include disappointing but adequate performers, your hiring “success” is probably closer to 80%.  But Topgraders set the bar high, and if you are disappointed or worse with 75% of your hires, you’re typical … and you have a 25% success rate.

Now show the doubter Chapter 5 of Topgrading, and they will be impressed that leading companies took their success rate from 25% to 90%.

Exercise #2: Estimate the costs of a typical mis-hire.  Use this form:

This is the most widely referenced cost of mis-hire form, and in only 15 or 20 minutes your doubter will be amazed at how COSTLY a typical mis-hire is.  In our Topgrading books we show the costs to range, for various jobs, from 5 to 27 times base salary.  And your doubter will be amazed at how time consuming it is to sweep up after a typical mis-hire (200 hours, typically).

The combination of doing those two short exercises, followed by reading Chapter 5 in Topgrading, will go along way toward convincing your doubter that Topgrading hiring indeed can pack their team with high performers.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE: Consider attending our June 23 - 24 Topgrading Workshop to learn the 12 Topgrading Steps and get personalized coaching from Brad Smart and other Topgrading professionals.  Click here for information.

Can B players really be coached and become full-blown, certifiable A players?  You bet!  In a recent Topgrading Tips (Which Competencies Can Be Improved?) we presented a chart of competencies, color-coded by which competencies are easiest to change, most difficult, and in-between.  (To read it click here.)

This article is all about how to create a powerful Individual Development Plan (IDP), one that is sufficient in scope to convert a B player to an A player and embraced so totally by the B player that it works!  This article includes a MAGIC WEAPON that turbo-boosts the motivation of someone to improve.

If your B player needs improvement on the easiest to change competencies, ones like experience, education, organization/planning, writing skills, running effective meetings, or even Topgrading, the coaching approach is pretty obvious.  You sit down with B and arrange tutoring, decide on job experiences, and plan on what courses he should take.

But this article deals with how to coach managers to be much better leaders, and that involves improving some “in-between” competencies such as listening, inspiring followership, change leadership, likability, public speaking, conflict management, adaptability, and stress management.

It (almost) goes without saying that your B player, in order to be coached by you to become an A player, almost certainly is not very weak in the “difficult to change” competencies such as intelligence, energy, integrity, etc.  Otherwise your coaching challenge is probably hopeless.

Topgraders have developed a well-oriented method of coaching that has remarkable success.  You can copy it – give it a try!

Coaching Scenario

Suppose you have taken a new job and after a few weeks it’s obvious that you have a mixed bag of talent, including Pat Smith, a bright, energetic, ambitious manager with some clear rough edges.  She seems to be a “diamond in the rough,” bright, eager, and hard working, but she has fallen a bit short on her business objectives and her leadership style is immature.

For example, she made a presentation to the senior team, and it was sophomoric.  As she talks about her team, she seems to give third and fourth chances to underperformers.  And Pat seems to confuse her people with rapid changes in direction.  When they don’t “get it,” she loses her cool, leaving her team members licking their wounds.  So eager to please you, she seems to take credit for peers’ accomplishments, and clearly there is tension with those whose support she needs for her success.

Pat is willing to be coached, and you are hoping that if she embraces a thorough Individual Development Plan, she will perform in the A player category by exceeding her business objectives and demonstrating leadership and interpersonal skills that are Very Good or better.

However, just as Jack Welch required at GE, if she fails to achieve her agreed-upon business accountabilities or if she continues to exhibit mediocre interpersonal and leadership behaviors, she’ll be terminated (or more likely will quit, realizing she will not keep her job).

Coaching Steps

1.  CONDUCT A TOPGRADING INTERVIEW WITH PAT.
This is a good Topgrading practice for all your new team.  Why wait to learn their strengths and weaker points “the hard way,” by gradually getting to know them?  In a 3-hour Topgrading interview you’ll of course learn about Pat’s every success and accomplishment, her failures and mistakes, and this is crucial, you’ll get a clear picture of her capacity to recognize areas for improvement and actually improve.

Pat unfortunately has had bosses who left her alone and hardly coached her, but she does see the need to improve her leadership and she seems to respect you.  Good start!

2.  AGREE ON PAT’S JOB SCORECARD.
As you know, her job scorecard is not just a job description, but a complete summary of her measurable accountabilities. Pat agrees to achieve not only the business accountabilities objectives but also demonstrate Very Good leadership competencies.

Specifically Pat agrees that she must achieve her business accountabilities, but also to achieving an average score of 7 on a 10-point scale on the leadership accountabilities, as measured by an email survey of her team.

3.  CONDUCT AN EMAIL SURVEY OF HER TEAM AS WELL AS PEERS.
This will establish baselines for the areas for improvement.

Pat should send an email to subordinates and peers saying, “I’m working with (new boss – you!) to create an Individual Development Plan that I hope will strengthen my leadership skills.  We’re creating an anonymous survey I’d like you to complete, and (new boss) will also be scheduling one-on-one talks with many of my team and peers; these too are anonymous and confidential.  (New boss) will not disclose who said what to him, so please be candid with (new boss).  He will ask 4 basic questions – 1. What are my strengths, 2. What are my weaker points, 3. What are my career potentials, and 4. What is your best advice for how I can maximize my performance and growth?  Thank you!”

DESIGN OF THE EMAIL SURVEY
We like to use the item stem, “How frequently do you view Pat as?”  And the scale is Always, Frequently, Sometimes, and Never.

Mix in positive items so the survey does not focus too much on the negative, and include the items you and she think she needs to work on such as, An effective listener, Patient, Clear in the direction, Hiring high performers, Replacing chronic low performers, An effective team player with peers, A very effective public speaker, and Emotionally controlled.  Note that the items can be written in positive (“Emotionally controlled”) or negative (“Losing my temper”) language.

A typical email 360 survey will have about 12 items that are her clear strengths, and about 8 items that seem to be her weaker points.

4.  SUPPLEMENT THE EMAIL SURVEY WITH CONFIDENTIAL, HALF-HOUR DISCUSSIONS WITH EACH OF HER DIRECT REPORTS AND 3 OR 4 PEERS.
The purpose (stated in #3) is repeated, and the questions (stated in #3) are asked, with follow up questions so that you have an excellent feel for Pat’s leadership strengths and weaker points.

5.  MEET WITH PAT TO REVIEW THE SURVEY RESULTS AND YOUR IMPRESSIONS FROM THE ORAL INTERVIEWS.
Make this a dialog in which Pat is fully involved in analyzing the results for every item, with the purpose of creating a draft Individual Development Plan, a plan that will fortify her strengths and overcome her weaker points.  Remind Pat that the minimum acceptable average rating for all items is 7 on a 10-point scale (3 if the wording is reversed), though the minimum rating is typically a lot higher, like a 9, for Integrity and Topgrading.

Pat should read a sample Individual Development Plan so she understands that the final form should say What she intends to do, Why (this is crucial – she has to speak from her heart to show real commitment to change), When, and How the results will be measured.  (Attached is Pat’s final Individual Development Plan, which you could show your B player as a sample.)

Pat, in the next couple of weeks, will finalize her IDP, and it’s her plan, but you must agree with it.

6.  COACH PAT REGULARLY.
As her IDP states, you as the new boss will provide instant or daily feedback and coaching when the need is apparent, but also you have scheduled quarterly coaching sessions to thoroughly review everything Pat has done — her successes, any failures, and what if anything should be changed in her IDP.

If Pat is failing to achieve either business objectives or improvements in her leadership, you both will recognize it.  If someone has to pole vault 17 feet to make the Olympic team and is still at 15 feet AFTER getting a new pole, working with a sports psychologist, taking nutrition lessons, etc., well it’s pretty obvious that the measurable accountabilities aren’t going to be met.

In sports and business, an entirely friendly discussion should take place regarding the person’s departure.  With Topgrading, chronic low performers fire themselves!

THE MAGIC WEAPON THAT TURBO-BOOSTS DEVELOPMENTAL EFFORTS
If you read Pat’s IDP you might have figured out what the heck this “magic weapon” is – it’s a metaphorical camera that tapes Pat all day, every day on the job and when her accountabilities for improvement are measured, her worst behavior will be observed and if it’s really bad, it will cost Pat her job.  That “camera” is the promise of more email surveys and oral interviews by you, as often as every 6 months.  I phrase it like this:

“Pat, every day think that a camera is on you – look up in the corner of the room and imagine it’s taping you now and every second you’re on the job.  Do you have that image?  Okay, now let’s take your weaker points, starting with your losing your temper.  It scares the hell out of your people when you yell at them, and as you now know from reading the Written Comments in the survey, your people retreat to their office, lick their wounds, and are much less productive for days and days.  And when you yell at them, they are more inclined to blame others, which hurts teamwork.  In your IDP you have agreed that you will achieve an 8+ on Emotional Control, and here’s how to motivate yourself to stay on your good behavior, think that the camera is on you, Pat, every moment of every day.  Blow up even once in the next 6 months and everyone in the department will hear about it, and you’ll be rated low in Emotional Control.  You can be on your best behavior 99% of the time and one loud screaming episode will be remembered and your survey results will suffer.  By the way, not only will your Emotional Control be rated low, but you can bet that just because of one time you ripped someone’s head off verbally, many other survey items such as Team Player, Inspiring Followership, and Clear Direction will be rated lower.”

Where did this idea come from?  While consulting with GE quite a few managers I coached improved using this coaching method – they not only improved their leadership style but with those improvements they achieved even better business results.  So Jack Welch took the extra step (how typical!) of saying, “You must make your numbers and exhibit the positive GE leadership values, or you get just one more chance and then you’re fired if you don’t achieve both.”

Thank you, Jack!

SUMMARY: By putting the threat of losing one’s job if someone fails either to achieve business results or demonstrate very good leadership competencies, managers become strongly motivated to follow through on their IDPs and a lot of B players move up to A player status.

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