7s are the performance killers

It’s all in the numbers …

What is one of the biggest factors in holding back your company from achieving success, you ask?

Just take a close look at the people you employ.

7s are the performance killers

If you had a 10 point scale for the people in your business, you can spot those employees rating between 1 – 5s quite easily as they’re poor performers.

No business owner has a problem getting rid of somebody who is horrible, whose performances are 1-5.

The top performers – the 9s and 10s – are the A-players and will stand out a mile.

The 7s are the big concern. Some of the time they are great, some of the time they are not.

The 7s in your team are often invisible. Hovering below the radar, they can kill performance in your business. A random glimmer of ability will keep them employed, but they are otherwise unseen.

Don’t give away a 10’s seat to a 7…

There’s an opportunity cost to a 7 occupying a seat that could be taken by a 9 or 10.

The execution of the whole team will be brought down by the weakest link. This is what you need to avoid.

An A-player – the top 10% of available talent for a given job in a given location – will get your business over time to 90%.

An employee rated 9 or 10 is five to 10 times more productive than a 6 or a 7.

They don’t cost you any more money. They take no extra management time.

A-Players will naturally think for themselves and get things done.

A-Players take responsibility and accountability for their work, so a CEO is free to focus on what he/she should be focusing on: overall strategy & business culture.

You should be striving to hire and motivate A-Players.

That’s how you get your time back to run the business. It quite simply comes down to surrounding yourself with better people.

A-Players should never mix with 7s

Note that A-Players find it hard to work with 7s. It impacts them negatively. This not only brings down the A-Player, it has an extraordinarily negative and disruptive impact on the team as a whole.

In fact, being forced to work with – or even worse, report to a 7 is the biggest reason A-players choose to leave an organisation.

Simply put, working with a non-A player is no fun.

Someone has to pick up the work that the unproductive 7 doesn’t get done, or endure the negative comments and complaining the 7 might engage in day after day…

Your best people may assume that management is fine with underperformance, and as a result, faith in leadership goes down too.

If the non-A player is the boss, this makes the situation even worse. Any good person who reports to them is at immediate flight risk.

The only people who stay under those conditions are the people who have no other options. An A-Player will quickly get fed up and look for other opportunities.

Do not force them to work under these conditions for any length of time.

Make sure you have great people in leadership throughout your organisation so that you retain your best people.

Make it your goal to have a team of 100% A-players – people that rate 9, or 10 on the scale.

Blog inspiration

This blog was inspired by one of my virtual mentors, Dominic Monkhouse. One of my non-negotiables is to listen to Dominic’s podcast every week. I highly recommend that you do the same.

How to take your business to the next level…

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I hope you have enjoyed these insights. Have a great week and stay growth-focused!

Best Wishes,
Jonathan
+61 (0) 408 748 980
jonathan@scaleupgrowth.co