STARS, TERRORISTS, AND OTHER PEOPLE YOU MAY HAVE BEEN AVOIDING

We all know the Pareto Principle – the 80/20 rule. Eighty percent of results come from twenty percent of our efforts. The same is true of people: eighty percent of your results come from twenty percent of your team. And eighty percent of your headaches come from the twenty percent on the wrong side of the bell curve.

Here is a pattern I see regularly in client conversations. A certain name keeps coming up – in management meetings, in board discussions, in coaching sessions. Constant issues, ongoing underperformance, persistent disruption. And yet the conversation circles without resolution, because the manager (or business owner) either lacks the confidence to act, or simply does not know how.

Jack Welch, legendary CEO of General Electric and widely regarded as one of the finest business leaders of recent times, had a framework for exactly this: the Employee Performance / Values Matrix. It has you place every team member into one of four quadrants based on two measures – how they perform, and how well they live the values of the business. (See the illustration.)

Stars – High Performance, High Values

You know who they are. They deliver the results, they lead by example, they back the business. These are your non-negotiables. Reward them, recognise them, promote them, and do whatever it takes to keep them. Increases, share options, better benefits – and simply making them feel genuinely valued. Never lose a Star through neglect.

Potential Stars – Lower Performance, But High Values

They may not be hitting every target yet, but they care, they fit the culture, and they give it their all. With deliberate coaching and mentorship, these people grow into your best performers. Invest in them. Give them time and a clear runway – within reason.

Terrorists – High Performance, Low Values

The uncomfortable ones. Often your top performers, which is exactly what makes them dangerous. They undermine colleagues, disrespect management, or cut ethical corners – whether through harassment, insubordination, or dishonesty. A client’s top salesperson was caught falsifying figures to win a sales prize, stealing a deal from a teammate in the process. Another client had a storeman taking bribes – known by the whole team and even the owner, but never acted on because the person had been there for years. The message that sent to the rest of the team was corrosive and should have been dealt with decisively. Welch was clear on this: terrorists must be removed. And not quietly. A public exit – handled lawfully and professionally – sends an unmistakable message that values are non-negotiable here. Tolerate this behaviour and your best people will either disengage or leave.

Dysfunctional – Low Performance, Low Values

Neither performing nor aligned. Move quickly, follow the correct labour relations process, and exit with dignity. The longer they stay, the more damage accumulates.

The Hidden Costs

The obvious cost is missed targets. The real cost runs deeper: good people disengaging, management time consumed by conversations that go nowhere, talent walking out the door because the culture was allowed to deteriorate. These costs don’t always appear on a spreadsheet – but they are very real.

Hiring Versus Recruiting

Welch also asked the harder question: How did the Dysfunctional person get in here in the first place? Not to assign blame, but to examine the process. In most businesses, there is no process – just an empty chair and the first available candidate. That is hiring. Recruiting is different. It is a deliberate system that lets the wrong candidates screen themselves out while surfacing the right ones.

Our ActionCOACH recruitment framework covers seven essentials:

■ Define your ideal candidate and write a full job spec before you advertise

■ Prepare compelling advertising your team and network can share

■ Choose where to look – advertise widely, and engage good recruiters too

■ Use multiple screening layers: motivation letters, phone, video, behavioural profiling

■ Rigorous interviews and skills tests, conducted consistently

■ Close the deal – make them want to work for you

■ A solid induction process that sets them up to succeed from day one

If you want to know more about building a recruitment process, reach out – details below. Start with your organisation chart. Place each person into one of Jack Welch’s four quadrants. Then decide what each one needs: reward, coaching, a firm conversation, or an exit plan. The answers are usually clearer than you think. The question is whether you are willing to act on them. To your success, Trevor Clark.

T: +27 31 266 2258 E: mastery@actioncoach.com W: www.mastery.co.za