People · Organising to Scaling
The A-player matrix
You know who carries your team, and what you'll do with each of them.
Worth reading first: Core values that guide behaviour, A role with a purpose
Does this sound familiar?
- Your best salesperson hits target every month, and the rest of the team gives them a wide berth.
- Someone is friendly, helpful and always on time, and still their work doesn't get done.
- You've known for a year that someone doesn't fit, and you keep putting the conversation off.
- You want to part ways with someone, and then it turns out nothing's been written down.
- Your good people leave, and the mediocre ones stay.
Who it's for, and when
For founders and managers who no longer work alongside everyone and have to choose who gets their time. It comes into play as soon as you have team leaders or a first leadership team, and comes back with every hire and every quarter.
The model
You look at everyone in your team along two lines, each scored from 1 to 10. Performance: do they achieve the outcomes of their role, this quarter's KPIs and priorities? Core values: do they behave in line with them? From a 6 upwards a line counts as good; below that it doesn't. A 6 is a pass and nothing more. If you're torn between a 5 and a 6, choose, and write down an example from the last three months for each score. Without an example it's just a feeling.
Those two lines give you four types: A, B, C and D. A letter isn't a judgement of the person. It says where someone stands in this role right now, and what you do about it. The hardest one is the C: someone who hits their numbers and ignores the core values. Welch said that's exactly the one you have to let go. As long as they stay, everyone can see the values on the wall don't count.
In the Netherlands you can't 'let them go' overnight. With a C or D you first have a conversation where you say what you see. If nothing changes, a performance improvement plan (verbetertraject) follows: written agreements on what you want to see, what help they'll get and how long it runs, with notes from every meeting. If it still doesn't work, you usually part ways with a settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst). If that fails too, the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) decides, and it'll want to see a file. The UWV, the Dutch employee insurance agency, deals with dismissal for economic reasons or long-term sickness, not with performance.
The matrix is about who carries your team. How much direction someone needs on a task is in the lesson Situational leadership, and how you lead through leaders is in the lesson Mission command.
Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric, in his 2000 letter to shareholders and later in his book Winning (2005). He put performance next to the company's values and ended up with four types of people.
A: results and core values
Your core. Keep them and pay them well. Talk to them about where they want to go, and ask who they'd like alongside them: A-players hire A-players. Who gets your attention first shows the team what you're steering by.
B: core values, no results yet
Fits in with your company, but the work doesn't get done. Find out where it's stuck: the role, a skill, or the support they've had. Make a plan with a timeframe. Often someone fits better in a different role.
C: results, not the core values
Hits their numbers, and drains the team. Name the behaviour specifically, once and clearly, and put it in writing. If it doesn't change, an improvement plan on behaviour, and then you part ways. Even if it costs you revenue.
The difficult conversationD: neither
Doesn't fit the role or the company. Don't wait. Often they feel it too, and a fair settlement is better for them than a year of doubt. If they don't want that, it's the improvement plan.
Pitfalls
The letter as a label
A letter is where someone stands now, in this role. A B in sales can be an A in planning. Look again every quarter.
Core values nobody knows
You can't assess anyone on core values if they aren't written down or nobody can explain them. Make them concrete first: which behaviour fits, and which doesn't.
Keeping the letter to yourself
If you see someone as a C for a year and never say so, you can only tell them why when they're leaving. For them it comes out of nowhere, and to the court a conversation without notes never happened.
Watch and read
The man behind the model explains the four types himself, in a minute.
Watch on YouTubeHow to assess someone on the core values and on their role, with a different model that comes down to the same thing.
Watch on YouTubeIn Dutch, and two minutes long: what an improvement plan has to contain if you, as the employer, want it to hold up in court later.
Watch on YouTubeRead
Winning
Jack Welch en Suzy Welch · 2005 · ISBN 9780060753948
Welch on assessing people on performance and values, and on parting ways without putting it off. Practical, and you can read it a chapter at a time. Published in Dutch as Winnen.
View the bookApply it
- 1
Write your core values down
For each value, two or three behaviours you want to see. 'Customer first' becomes: calls back within a day, says so honestly when something's going to be late.
Core values that guide behaviour - 2
Give each person two scores, with an example
Performance against the outcomes of their role, core values against the behaviour you wrote down. From 1 to 10, with 6 as the cut-off. For each score an example from the last three months: what, when, with whom.
- 3
Choose what you do for each letter
A: a conversation about where they want to go. B: find out where it's stuck, and a plan with a timeframe. C: name the behaviour, this week. D: a conversation about how things go from here.
- 4
Write up every conversation with a C or D
The same day, write down what you said, what they said and what you agreed. Email it to them and ask if it's right. That way they know where they stand, and later you have a file.
- 5
If it doesn't change: an improvement plan
On paper: what isn't going well, with examples. What you want to see, specific enough that you can check it. What help they'll get (a coach, a course, a colleague who works alongside them). How long it runs, usually two to six months. A meeting every two to four weeks, with notes. Have them sign the plan to say they've seen it. Call an employment lawyer before you start: a plan that isn't done properly won't count in court.
- 6
If it doesn't work: part ways
Usually with a settlement agreement: together you agree an end date and a payment, often at least the statutory transition payment (transitievergoeding), and you usually pay for their lawyer. If you can't agree, you ask the subdistrict court to dissolve the employment contract. It'll look at your file.
Examples
One line of the scoring sheet
Role: account manager Performance: 8. Hit his revenue target in the third quarter and two of his three priorities. Core values: 4. On 'together': three times left a colleague to handle a complaint from his own client, and said in the weekly meeting that service isn't his job. Letter: C What I'll do: a conversation this week, notes by email, look again in four weeks.
An improvement plan on one page
What isn't going well: leaves complaints from his clients with colleagues (14 and 28 October, 4 November), says in meetings that service isn't his job. What I want to see: he handles complaints from his own clients himself, within two working days. Help: half an hour every week with the service team leader on open complaints. Duration: three months, until 1 March. In between: a meeting every two weeks, with notes by email. Seen: signed and dated by both.
The top salesperson who wears the team out
A C. You name what you see: 'you hit your target, and you leave colleagues to deal with your complaints'. You say what you want to see and when you'll talk about it again, and you email the notes. A month later nothing's different. So you start a three-month improvement plan on that behaviour. If it still doesn't change, you offer a settlement agreement, even though it costs a quarter's revenue.
The loyal employee who can't keep up
A B. The company grew and his role grew with it, but he didn't. Ask him what's getting in the way. Maybe a smaller role fits better, or one where his strengths do count. Agree when you'll check whether it's working.
A D who feels it too
Six months without results, and the way he works doesn't fit. In the conversation it turns out he isn't happy in it either. You offer a fair settlement: an end date in two months, a payment and time to look for something else. That's better for both of you than a plan where everyone already knows how it ends.
Do this in your own business
Everything up to here is free. What you fill in for your own business, you keep in Boldcaster.
- Go to the A-Player Matrix. In Boldcaster you'll find your team in the A-Player Matrix. Performance comes from the performance review and their own KPIs and priorities for this quarter, core values from the review. From a 6 out of 10 upwards a line counts as good.
- You look back on a situation from your own work. Only you can read what you write.
- You set a date with yourself, and on that day the app asks how it went.
- You assign the lesson to your team and see who has done it.
- The quiz counts towards your progress, and you see which lesson comes next.
Four weeks free. You'll land straight in this lesson.
Quiz
6 situations. You need 5 of 6 right. You can try again at any time.
1.Your best salesperson brings in a quarter of revenue and belittles colleagues in meetings. Two good people have already asked to move to another team. What does it cost to leave him where he is?
2.An employee is loyal, helpful and well liked. Since the company grew, his work no longer gets done. What do you do first?
3.You put someone down as a C, but you can't name a single example of behaviour that doesn't fit. What's going on?
4.You're torn between a 5 and a 6 for someone's performance. They hit one of their three priorities and came in just under their KPIs. What do you give?
5.A C doesn't change after a clear conversation. You want him to go. What's the usual next step in the Netherlands?
6.A B in sales turns out to be very good at planning and organising. What does that say about his letter?
Nothing is saved here. In the app, the quiz counts towards your progress.
Read next
- The difficult conversation · You name behaviour that doesn't fit, once and clearly, without tearing anyone down.
- Mapping your core processes · You know which processes run your company, from a customer coming in to the money coming in, and at which handover the work gets stuck.
- The performance review · You hold a conversation about someone's work where nothing comes as a surprise and everything ends up on paper.
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