Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Takeaway:
Correctly value the newest team members during their initial 90 days. They represent the best opportunity you have for making a difference as a manager.
What is a Rookie A?
I’m not sure if he was the originator of this concept or not, but one of my mid-career bosses, and an admired mentor, Bill Garner, introduced me to a way to classify my team so that I was spending my time where it would return me the best results. At the time I was given an existing team of small business owners who I was responsible for leading. Based on their historic sales volume, each were classed using an alphabetic indicator where A’s were worthy of more of my time than B’s, and so on.
When I was assigned a new business owner, they were always classified as Rookie A for the first 3 months and placed at the top of my list of where I should spend my time, even above my experienced A’s. While all others were being evaluated at the end of each month and moving up or down the classification system for the next month, Rookie’s A’s stayed at the top for 3 months regardless of their behavior. They were always my priority.
Treat Them Like They Are Going to be the Next Rookie of the Year
We had annual awards given out each year to the top performing business owners as do most organizations. Included was an award for Rookie of the Year. This would be the business owner who had the highest sales volume in their first year.
Bill encouraged me to treat each of my Rookie A’s like they were going to being that year’s Rookie of the Year.
That meant that even when the business owner tried to convince me that they were not capable of that level of achievement, I was to ignore their pleas and treat them like they were begging me to coach them to this pinnacle of first-year success.
This was frustrating at times for both me and the business owner, but over time I learned to just be up front with the newly assigned business owner that this was going to be my approach, and it actually produced many humorous exchanges, as well as performance closer to their potential than otherwise might have been.
Believe in Them More Than They Believe in Themselves
Here’s what I learned from this approach. Newbies are afraid and harbor much doubt when they begin the job. They wonder if they can really do the job and often worry they may have oversold themselves in the interview. A defense mechanism kicks in that protects them from not living up to expectations. They begin to identify their “reasons” why they can’t be the next rookie of the year.
As a manager, I have a decision to make at this point. Do I agree with them or do I refuse to believe them? If I agree with them, now what? If I refuse to believe them, at least one of us thinks it can still be done.
You see, when people who join your team are new, they suspect they can do the job well but they don’t know for sure. You on the other hand know that they can be successful if they do the things others who have been successful do. Your belief becomes the only thing they can believe in at this point. They aren’t sure they can do it but they have to be 100% sure you believe they can. And the amount of time and energy you direct at them communicates this belief in a way that nothing else can.
Some Will, Some Won’t
If there is anything I’m sure of after 35 years of coaching and managing people, it’s that I can’t know up front who’s going to make it and who isn’t. I’ve hired some of the most talented people with great track records and seen such disappointment that I couldn’t believe it. On the other hand I’ve had those who in the beginning seemed likely to fail, blossom and turn into solid producers. That’s why Bill encouraged me to treat them like Rookie A’s for the first 3 months, regardless of their attitude, behavior, or pleadings for me to stop thinking of them with those high expectations.
The mistake that “seasoned” managers make in this regard, is they take a “wait and see if they are going to make it” approach to new people, justifying their position by claiming the don’t want to “waste” their valuable time on someone who is unproven. The unfortunate result is that those same managers spend their “valuable time” with their top producers, resulting in small, if any incremental improvements in the organizational output.
To be a top manager, be good with the new people. They represent the greatest opportunity you have.
Transformational Exercise:
Take 30 minutes and review your on-boarding process for new hires. Think about what high performance looks like for a team member in this position. Consider whether you invest enough time with new hires during their first 90 days and whether you exhibit belief in them regardless of their actions and attitudes during this period. Write down any action steps you need to take to improve in this area.
