You get 5 types of people
by oneafrikan on September 17, 2013
I was listening to a talk recently where the speaker talked about the 5 types of people. I’ve understood this intuitively, but for the first time I’d heard it explained in a bite sized, easy to understand way.
Basically, the speakers assertion was that in any business you get 5 types of people, and when you ask them to do something one of the following things will happen:
- They don’t do it
- They ask “how do I do it?”
- They ask “can I do it like this?”
- They just do it
- They do it without being asked
By and large, I’ve found this to be true and think it’s a pretty good way of thinking about how people in my business are contributing. As a leader, I see my role as continually living in group 5, if only to lead by example.
His further assertion was that the proportion of people who belong to group 4 is about 1 in 25 and group 5, 1 in 50. Youngsters or entry level people should always be in group 3 and up, and you should always look to hire people from group 4 and 5. And then lastly, groups 1 and 2 should either be let go or managed out.
Of course, this is all easier said than done, but again a pretty good way to frame a hiring process which unearths these people.
Lastly, he brought up an interesting way of looking at talent and performance, which is explained below.
Basically, anyone who is red should be let go / managed out, yellow people need to be improving, and green people are the ones you build a business on.
Which one are you? ;-)
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3 comments
Wrong assumption: these people are stuck in a specific group.
Right assumption: a leader can greatly influence the movement of people from one group to another (in a good or bad way).
:)
by simone brunozzi on September 17, 2013 at 7:54 pm. #
Sure. I probably should have added a caveat that in the early stages (pre-revenue, pre-profit), you don’t have the time or bandwidth to grow people into stages. In a bigger more secure corp, there’s probably more room for that. Put simply, there is very little time for passengers.
by oneafrikan on September 18, 2013 at 8:16 am. #
So nicely put. Another factor which seems synonymous with group 1 and 2 is asking for more money or being clock watchers.
by Nathan Jeffery on December 22, 2013 at 12:01 am. #