In any group or organization, some will be in the top 10% and some are in the bottom 10%, no matter what.
The top 10% are loyal, smart, honest and do everything that is expected and more. The bottom 10% are just the opposite; in fact, they look for ways not to work.
Most management theorists believe a manager should leave the top 10% alone, fire the bottom 10% and spend time on the middle 80%, moving this larger group into the top group or allowing them to downgrade themselves after attention, training, etc.
What a crock.
Take a survey of your employees and ask them if they believe they are in the top 10% or have the potential to be there. I would guess, unless you are a terrifically bad hirer, that almost all of your people see themselves as belonging in the top group. All of them want to be there.
The job of a true leader is to help them get what they want. They want to be the best. They want to sell more, to be the best employee. They already see themselves that way.
If you identify with this, but are not in the top group—what went wrong and how can you fix it? How can you move yourself up from the vast middle to the elite top?
First, don’t give up. If you expect most managers/leaders to provide you with a clear, crisp blueprint of exactly what you should do, let’s all form a circle and sing KumBaYah. Most managers have no idea either. More on this later. But for now–
It is really mostly, clearly, unfortunately, up to you. You be the adult here. You know what it takes to be recognized as the top tier. Figure out a plan, talk to the top performers, get their ’secrets,’ ideas and help. Chances are you might be hanging out with the other middle group or worse the down-and-on-their-way- out group. (Is it still cool to be that anti-everything?)
Winners congregate. And aggregate.
Since this is the time of New Year’s Resolutions, here is a tip to try while you still have a bit of new year’s nerve on your side. Tell others that in 2008 you are going to be in the top 10%. Tell your other friends, your family, and your co-workers. But mostly tell your boss, manager and leaders. Challenge them to help you. If they are true leaders, they will figure out a way to help you get there.
Remember the job of a great leader is to help his people get what they want.
10 users commented in " Top 10% or Bottom 10% "
Wow, GL! This is probably the best advice I’ve ever heard for motivating yourself to “move up” in your career! Absolutely wonderful!
Although I kinda like the “form a circle and sing Kumbaya” idea…
Thanks Robert. Great praise coming from a thought leader like you.
This is exactly why I read this blog—-it’s the daily meeting of the upper 10% club.
This just might be the hardest thing I have ever done—
no more excuses
Thanks Mike and good for you! Share with us all about what you are doing, exactly. It might help all of us. I love the NOMOREEXCUSES comment. It is not about excuses, but reasons.
Like you said GL—I always thought company owners had the “blue prints” to company success, but they don’t exist.
Simply put—I did like GL said and drafted e-mail (2 pages) to the owner outlining my goals/desire to be among the top 10% of the producers in my field. I simply asked him to help me anyway he could to achieve my goals for 2008.
He said he would get back to me—so I guess I have started the ball rolling — being the owner he has a vested interest in seeing me achieve these goals.
2008 should be interesting—
My feelings exactly….no excuses in 2008. Now is the time to stop doing the same things we’ve done for years that doesn’t seem to get us anywhere. If you review Mintzberg, Pavett and Lau’s work on managers, you may be surprised to find that managers who focus on their subordinates are promoted far less than those that emulate higher level managers. I’ve seen this quite often. If your manager holds a performance review that lasts about 10 minutes and only occurs once a year, you know what I mean. Then, you aren’t competing with your peers, you’re competing with a much greater force. Fighting it won’t help any either.
The best way to achieve career success is to stop competing one on one. I worked for years to understand how a team of high performers could compete against other individuals by collectively managing the perception of each team member. You see, it wasn’t that they didn’t do great work. It was more that no one knew they did it. More importantly, no one knew what they were capable of doing. Why you say? No one was looking.
So, we built a team that created impressions of each other that made them higher performers. Then, as work came, they helped each other. They also created many great ideas (i.e. many heads are better than one). If a team member made a political faux-pas, the team cleaned it up. If one member needed training, the others provided it. On and on this goes. No way to really fail.
The team based approach convinces your competition that it’s too difficult to fight your team. It also convinces management that you’re the player they want on their team. Get enough people to echo this thought and it becomes reality.
This approach will come out this year in the book “Blitz the Ladder.” Don’t waste time competing when you can convince everyone else that you don’t need to.
Todd—thanks for stopping by…and I will look for your new book. When will it come out?
Hey, that is excellent. I’m going to go against your earlier advice and forward it to my daughter!
Great post and so right.
One company I worked for many years ago actually ’sacked’ their bottom 10% each year!
One idea I would also recommend is, if you want to be in that top 10% is be mentored by someone who already is. Normally, one of the traits of a top 10% individual is helping and supporting others - so go and find one and discover ways to move up the percentage ladder.
Andrew
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