“The toughest decisions in organizations are people decisions - hiring, firing, and promoting people.  These are the decisions that receive the least attention and are the ones that are the hardest to “unmake.”

  – Peter Drucker

Has it been more than six months since you’ve done a serious analysis of each member of your team’s performance?  Yes?  You’re losing customers, valuable assets and money.

Is your company made up of superstars and A players or do you have B, C and maybe even some D players infecting your company at the core?  Anyone who is less than an A player is costing you $$$$! And the real cost isn’t what you think it is. Even one bad apple can lead to widespread rot.

How Firing An Entire Team Led to
3,546% Growth in 12 Months

Too many CEOs have come to accept what they believe is the reality of business, that dealing with B and C players is just part of the game. What happens though when you just say no and create a new reality? One CEO discovered the hard way just how much her lackluster team of C players and nay-sayers was hurting her company.  Some had been hired because of prior relationships. Others because they happened to be available.  None, from the controller to the marketing director to the entire sales team was an A player. While many were working hard, and putting in a lot of exhausting hours, they weren’t producing. After more than 12 months of no new revenue, it was time for a big change. This CEO made the very hard decision to say goodbye to everyone in the company and rebuild her team from scratch, hiring only Superstars and A players.  The result? 12 months later, her revenue had grown from $0 to $602 Million.

Direct Cost of Hiring and Keeping
Poor Performers

Low productivity, lack of initiative, too many days showing up late or not at all; are typical complaints about bad hires or poor performers. 

When they’re out “sick” yet again, the rest of the team must jump in and cover. And when poor performers do show up, the team is still covering.  Their negativity and list of reasons why something “won’t work” or “can’t be done” is endless. Eventually, they will have to be replaced.

Get Ready To Pay: The typical cost to replace an employee is 21% of their annual salary.^[i] That is on top of lost opportunity cost – deals blown and customers lost!

However, the costs are far more than merely recruitment expenses.  Have you ever calculated your direct costs of replacing someone who shouldn’t have been hired in the first place?  At a minimum, they include:

• Hiring (advertising, screening, interviewing and hiring by HR and Management personnel
• Onboarding, training, management oversight
• Lost Productivity
• Lost Engagement
• Lost Opportunity
• Lost Customers due to poor customer service
• Training costs
• Higher new employee salary (18% - 20% increase over previous employee)^[ii]

Take a look at an example of costs for replacing a Sales Rep below.

However, the direct costs are small compared to the real cost to your company.

What You’re Missing
- The REAL Cost

As if the direct costs weren’t enough, the real hit to your profitability is the toxic cloud of low morale that destroys productivity.  C players cause A players to disengage and ultimately drive your Superstars away. When you have the wrong people, everyone begins to question your ability to make smart decisions. And, no one is more affected than top performers. Their work – your company – becomes merely a paycheck.

Superstars are passionate about what they do. They show up, not just for a salary, but to achieve, to accomplish, to push themselves and their abilities to new levels.  They tend to be innovators and love solving problems.  Superstars are leaders, either intentionally or by example and they tend to collaborate with other members of the team, helping to lift everyone to new heights.

When you inflict C players on Superstars and A players, they begin to question why they are giving it their all, while others are underperforming and tolerated.  Why should they care and over perform, if you don’t?

Sources: State of the American Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for U.S. Business Leaders, Gallup, 2013; Gallup Survey, 2015; The Value and ROI in Employee Recognition, Human Capital Institute

Superstars and A players are in high demand. There is always another company around the corner just waiting to welcome them to their team. Consequently, it’s your superstars who are the first to leave. When your best performers leave, they take their knowledge and skills – the building blocks of your company – with them.

Recognizing – Hiring – Keeping
Superstars 

What makes a Superstar?
How do you recognize one when you see one?

1. Natural Talent

What are the skills that are vital for the job? Do you have someone who is or has been a superstar in this position. Make a list of “qualities” that person has.  In some cases, it’s not the most experienced person who is the superstar, but someone who is tenacious, innovative, a keen problem solver.

2. Hungry

People are often surprised by the people who turn out to be superstars.  Look for someone who is hungry and intent on making their mark.  Employers often shy away from new hires with big goals out of fear that they will leave.  If you keep challenging and rewarding team members who thrive on challenge and showing what they are made of; they’re likely to drive their own growth and your company’s as well.

3. Teachable

Often the worst hire is a person with a level of experience and success.  This is most often true in sales. You’re much better off with someone who wants extra helpings of new information and skills, than someone who, based on a little success, believes they know it all.

4. Sell Themselves

During the interview process, it’s a great time to see what they’ve got. You want them working after you hire them. Make them do a little work to show you why they’re the smart choice.  Have a plan before you start the interview.  What do you want to know?  What skills are vital?  Is this person someone who at 5:00 on a Friday stays to solve the crisis that could destroy the company, or is s/he someone who says “see you Monday”? Push back a little. Be tough.  See what they’re made of.

Keeping Your Superstars - Specific Actions:

1. Teach

Most companies have terrible or non-existent onboarding practices. Many find someone in their company and say “follow them”.  Some companies even entrust this vital role to the person who is soon to be exiting.

Your new hire is a diamond. Give him/her some polish. What does that mean? Don’t just hand over an employee manual or turn this diamond over to someone and say, “train”.  Create a real, meaningful training program. Memorialize your most important training on video.  Yes, it does take time to create it. But once it’s done, it will serve you well. Video tips:  1. The person who makes the video should be charismatic, interesting, and actually know what they are talking about.  In some cases, a process or procedure is very different in theory than in reality.

2. Lead

One of the worst things that a superstar can encounter is someone in a management position who cannot lead. As the owner or manager of the company, understand what you need to know and make decisions. Even if those decisions are not always 100% right, superstars will respect intelligent decision-making.

3. Give credit

Poor, in-effective leaders lack confidence and steal credit. Don’t. And if you have leaders on your team who do…they too need to be replaced by a superstar.

4. Invest and reward

Superstars aren’t in it only for the money. They want something more.  What’s their currency?  Is it recognition?  A promotion? Opportunity to stretch or learn something new? Know what their currency is and spend it.

5. Develop a superstar culture

Every company is different and the culture should match the values of the superstars you have and that you want to attract. Invest time and resources in developing yours.  Let your superstars help you lead in developing a healthy, vibrant culture. Spend time in knowing and enjoying co-workers as people with group and/or team building activities. 92% of employees rate both their overall corporate culture and teamwork within their department as important to them.^[viii]  And 88% say that they place high value on their relationships with co-workers.^[ix]

[i] There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees, Heather Boushey and Sara Jane Glynn, 2012, /
[ii] Bidwell, Matthew, Johnson Cornell University, Paying More to Get Less: The Effects of External Hiring versus Internal Mobility
[iii] State of the American Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for U.S. Business Leaders, Gallup, 2013 f
[iv] The Value and ROI in Employee Recognition, Human Capital Institute, August 2009
[v] State of the American Workplace: Employee Engagement Insights for U.S. Business Leaders, Gallup, 2013
[vii] The Value and ROI in Employee Recognition, Human Capital Institute, August 2009
[vii] www.Mindflash.com
[viii] 2016 Employee Job Satisfaction Report, Deloitte, Society for Human Resource Management 
[ix] Ibid.