Differentiating Talent

Differentiation of talent is critical to the success of any talent management system. In real life, employees actually perform at varying levels. Therefore, successful organizations must have a refined process that identifies top performers and those with potential to be top performers. Even in today’s ultra-competitive business environment, many companies still lack the courage required to initiate meaningful talent differentiation processes.

In today’s business vocabulary, top performing employees are referred to as “A players”. In his book, Topgrading, author Dr. Bradford Smart defines an A player as, “One who qualifies among the top 10 percent of those available for a position”. Available for a position means the person is willing to accept the position based on its merits (the compensation offered, performance expected, job location, and other similar factors).

A players consistently perform at an “exceeds expectations” level. 10 to 20 percent of a typical company’s employees are A players. At the managerial level, high performance organizations strive to have A players in at least 75 percent of these positions. Increasingly, companies are understanding that A player talent is essential to organizational success and are focusing more efforts on the recruiting, retention and development of their top performers.

The middle level, which comprises 60 to 80 percent of a typical company’s employees, is identified as “B players”. These employees consistently perform at a “meets expectations” level. A small percentage (typically less than 30 percent) of B’s can develop into A players but the majority lacks the talent required to achieve A player status. Think of B players as being solid, but not spectacular performers.

The bottom level of employees, 10 to 20 percent of a typical organization, are identified as “C players”. These employees perform inconsistently and routinely fail to meet performance expectations. These are the folks that just aren’t “cutting it” in the performance area. Sadly, most organizations to not candidly deal with their C players and many are allowed to languish, sometimes for years. This failure can have catastrophic results on both organizational performance and employee morale. Additionally, it is fundamentally unfair to allow a C player to continue to stumble without coaching and feedback.

Companies should be taking steps to identify their A players so that they can effectively engage their talents and focus on their retention (effective compensation and benefit offerings, continuing developmental activities, challenging opportunities, promotions, etc.) on their A’s.

B players with A potential must also be identified so that they can be developed. Identification of C players is extremely critical. C players must be placed into roles where they can perform at B or A levels or they must be exited from the organization. Too many C players on the payroll will negatively impact organizational performance.