I cringe every time a hiring executive tells me they use Topgrading. My reaction is visceral when people mention “Hiring A Players.” (So naturally I cheered when Harvard Business Review published the far more sensible “Let’s Hear it for B Players.”)
I acknowledge that Brad Smart is a very credentialed guy and he has built quite a dynasty on the Topgrading concept - I just never see it applied intelligently in small and midsize enterprises. Never. (Remember, I work hard to avoid using absolutes in sentences, so I must be adamant about this).
OK, so I also freely admit that I gave up and only made it halfway through the book (worst beach read ever). I just find Topgrading too rigid and impractical. And no way will most managers first learn the interview techniques and then spend 3 hours in a CIDS interrogation, I mean interview. . . no, I mean interrogation.
What I object to most about Top Grading is the vague definition of an “A Player” - “the top 10% of available talent for the compensation level” - like anyone could possibly determine who exactly qualifies. But this is what really irks me; even if you did figure it out, it would NOT help you hire correctly.
One thing I know for certain: top performance in one environment does not necessarily predict top performance in another. Simply hiring Olympic athletes or poaching your competitor’s top person guarantees you nothing. Nothing.
So rather than filling your company with mythical “A Players” here is strategy that will dramatically improve both your results and the quality of your life: set performance goals, manage your people against their results, fire your bottom performers and replace them with highly competent, hard-working people who fit in your culture. Then train the new people and hold them accountable for their results. Rinse and repeat. Do this for every job in the company. Then go on a 2 week vacation without checking your email. If things are still running well when you get back, you did it right.
So what exactly is my definition of a top performer? A top performer is someone who is capable of, and interested in, driving the business results you need – someone who will take responsibility for getting results within the norms of your company culture.
There is no universal set of attributes. It depends on the job. Some jobs require people to ”go with the flow” while others need someone to act as a change agent – it depends on the goals you have. Some jobs require individual accomplishment, others require teamwork. In exchange for results, some people require more money and recognition, some require management attention, some just want to be heard, and some require that you leave them alone. Some people get results quietly, some help others get results without drawing attention, some are instigators and squeaky wheels who hold others accountable. Some are exacting, punctilious and precise, some are big picture inspirational visionaries who never turn in their reports on time. Most organizations need a diverse mix of skills and work styles, but all within a common shared set of values. But really, it all starts with the business results you want to achieve.
So how can you find and hire Top Performers? Well, that’s kind of the whole point of this blog. But before you go re-read everything, I think it’s also very important to know one when you see one. And in that regard, Peter Weddle wrote a very intelligent summary of the ten telltales signs of a results-oriented “Work Happy Person” – you may not love the language in the first paragraph or so, but keep reading, it’s well worth it. I think he got it just about right.
So what exactly is your definition of a top performer?
As the founder of topgrading and the author of several books on the topic, I’m so sorry to learn in your recent blog that you “cringe” when hearing of topgrading and my big fat book Topgrading was not a good read on the beach. I know it’s not … but it has dozens of case studies of small, medium, and large companies — with names of companies and CEOs provided — in which the company improved its hiring success from 25% HIGH performers hired to 90%.
If your readers would like a free eBook, Avoid Costly Mis-Hires, that spells out the commonsense tograding hiring methods, they can go to http://www.SmartTopgrading.com and on the home page get it.
There are literally hundreds of small and medium sized companies that have more than doubled their hiring success. Let me know and I’d be happy to give you the contact information. Just today Richard Rossi, CEO of Envision EMI told me, “Brad, every time I’ve used the topgrading interview I’ve hired a winner, and every time I cut corners I suffered from a mis-hire.” Verne Harnish, founder of Young Executives Organization (YEO serves small businesses) and all his trainers and coaches emphasize topgrading as the #1 most importat skill. I’m writing Toggrading Small Businesses and have dozens of emerging case studies.
You say the topgrading interview is an interrogation, yet in the recommended four 1-hour competency interviews topgraders give interviewees 20 minutes to grill them, to ask what the boss is like, how decisions are made, what people like and dislike about working there.
You say topgrading is rigid and impractical. The topgrading interview follows a pattern of asking the candidate about every success, failure, key decision, and key relationship about all full time jobs. And candidates know from the start that in order to get a job offer THEY will eventually have to arrange personal reference calls with bosses. That makes them honest! So topgrading is thorough and it inspires honesty — put that together with honestly documented 90% hiring success and thousands of managers would say it is the most practical hiring method.
Finally, your title of the blog is, What is a Top Performer, and actually we refer to High Performer and define A player as someone in the top 10% of talent available for a job. In many jobs there are national and regional standards (stock broker, for example) so performance is easy to measure. Topgraders measure the costs of mis-hires and as THEY determine their success is improving and calculate the declining costs of mis-hires, they are quite confident they’ve become “calibrated.” Articles defending B players simply have a different definition than ours — the terrific B player that achieves high goals, os a great team player, and wonderful with customers but NOT promotable is, in the Harvard Business Review article a B player but to topgraders is an A player (but just not promotable). (That’s a short answer — in workshops we teach 5 methods to determine “high performer.”)
I agree completely that a high performer in one environment can be awful in another. We start with a job scorecard, nailing down accountabilities and competencies for every single job.
I hope you’ll reconsider your negative blog on topgrading; please do read that 50-page book at http://www.SmartTopgrading.com, because it addresses in more detail your concerns.
Brad,
Thank you for your thoughtful response, I love a good debate. I did just download your book (which was very easy to do I might add). I promise to review it and reply here, and I encourage my readers to do the same – let’s start a debate!
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I am an HR consultant who remains unconvinced that the TopGrading system is helpful to ANY company, including large ones. I have yet to see a TopGrading company with leading or innovative products. (No one rushes out to buy a GE appliance.) In fact, it appears that companies that use TopGrading actually stagnate and move down the road to fraud and disaster (e.g., Wachovia, Enron, Tyco, and Goldman Sachs.)
To explain away the multitudes of job applicants who are disgusted by the TopGrading philosophy and avoid companies that use it, TopGrading advocates argue that those are “C-players” who “self-select out.” What a cop out! I am a top 10% performer, an A-player. I would never work or interview for a TopGrading company, and I don’t know any leading performer who would. I firmly believe that only a C-player would put up with the TopGrading nonsense in their workplace, and it’s the A and B-players who stay away in droves.
Great site you have here but I was curious about if you knew of any user
discussion forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article?
I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get feed-back from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. Thanks!