Question

Overview

"The team with the best players wins--and leaders should expend their energy and time in evaluating, coaching, and building the self-confidence of team members. "People development," Welch writes, "should be a daily event, integrated into every aspect of your regular goings-on" (inc.com, Nov 13, 2017).

Who is Jack Welch? Jack has been a manager and leader of 400,000 people over a 50 year period. He was named CEO of the Century by Forbes. He ran General Electric (GE) for over 5 decades. He has a PhD in Chemical Engineering. He created an Executive MBA program focusing on leadership and building strong, productive teams. He is an overachiever. He is an amazing leader. He IS a superstar.

Jack's management style coined him a nickname of Neutron Jack. His reputation sparked various feelings in people because he was not afraid to differentiate between workers and do it with candor. He called it 20/70/10 rule. In Jack's companies the Top 20 % performers (the WINNERS) were promoted, rewarded and recognized for their good works. The 70 % were the workers who came to work, did their jobs and are the (backbone of an organization). The bottom 10 % (under performers) were invited to find other opportunities (fired).

The Scenario:

In this scenario you are a manager who works for Jack Welch at General Electric. Jack recently instructed all managers to differentiate the workforce so that the top 20% could be celebrated and recognized for their good work. In addition, Jack instructed all of the managers to identify the bottom 10% of the workforce - the under performers, and middle workers, before the annual reviews. Because of this directive you have been going over 3 years of annual evaluations of your workers in the department you run and manage to start the differentiation process.

Questions to answer based on the scenario

1- What is your process for deciding which team members fall into which category (20/70/10). Think logically - how do businesses define success and failures? Think in terms of the winner top/20% vs. a middle worker vs. a low producer worker? List a minimum of 2 things for each category (20/70/10).

2- How will you celebrate your top 20% performers (Winners)? Give at least one fully developed paragraph.

3- How will you encourage the 70% to become a top 20% performer?

4- How will you kindly terminate the bottom 10%'s employment?

5 - What will your messaging be to each of these team members when doing this year's annual reviews? Consider what tone/word choice you will use for each. In this review you will be candid with the feedback yet professional and respectful with each person (2 managers, 10 workers, 3 interns). Write your messaging for each based upon the following:

Your Team

You have 15 people on your team to evaluate and write reviews on.  

- Two managers; one is a top performer and one is under performing

- Ten workers; Seven are in the 70%, one is in the 20% and two are in the 10%

- Three paid interns - your interns are doing fine, but you want them to learn about the 20/70/10 rule as a part of their training.

Learning Objectives

• Understanding how a manager might differentiate the team to celebrate the Top 20%
• Get a better idea of why a leader like Neutron Jack Welch has a lot to offer a manager seeking to be a better leader
• Practice the messaging as a manager when doing an annual review of a team
• Understand how some basic principles can prove to be valuable to build a culture of candor (20/70/10).

Answer 1

Promotion or career advancement is a process through which an employee of a company is given a higher share of duties, a higher pay-scale or both. A promotion is not just beneficial for employees but is also highly crucial for the employer or business owners. It boosts the morale of promoted employees, increases their productivity and hence improves upon the overall profits earned by the organization.

PROMOTIONS AND APPRAISALS

A promotion is a step further that an employee takes while working in an organization as far as his/her work, rank or position is concerned. Every organization or workplace has a certain job hierarchy structure according to which an employee advances in that organization and gets promoted. Promotion is not just a reward that an employee is given for his/her continued good performance but is the proof that an employer thinks that it is time to add more responsibilities to an employee’s existing set of responsibilities.

There are many types of promotions – while some guarantee advancement in the job position or rank, other may guarantee an increase in the pay or salary. In some organization, a promotion may result in a just change of duties and responsibilities. Promoting employees for their excellence in performance is important to value their efforts and keep their morale up.

An appraisal or performance appraisal, on the other hand, is a method through which an employee’s performance is judged, evaluated or measured. These appraisals are a regular part of the career development of workers and employees and are an integral part of any working organization. Appraisals can be both negative and positive. While in positive appraisals, the overall evaluation comes out to be positive and may result in a salary increase, a negative appraisal on the other hand is a proof that an employee hasn’t been performing up to expectations and actions are taken to motivate him/her to do so from then onwards.

A performance appraisal is a periodic and systematic process that tries to assess the performance at work as well as the level of productiveness of the employees. This may consider the various achievements, accomplishments, weaknesses as well as the strengths of the employee so that overall results can be evaluated.

IMPORTANCE AND BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE PROMOTIONS

A promotion is not only a way to add more responsibilities to an employee but is a major form of boosting employee motivation and morale. This results in high productivity and prevents your company from losing its valuable and important employees. There are many benefits and advantages of promoting employees regularly for their efforts, and the following are some of the main ones:

• Recognizes & Improves employee performance, ambition, and hard work: One of the most important benefits of employee promotion is that it helps you to recognize and acknowledge the performance and hard work of your employees and thus makes them feel valued. When an employee’s efforts are valued, he/she tends to work harder and tries to improve his/her performance further which in turn works for the business. A promotion also improves the ambition of employees and boosts their passion for reaching their goals as well as the objectives of your organization.
• Boosts motivation & increases loyalty of employees: An employee who gets promoted tends to feel more inspired and motivated to continue doing the good work, and this is yet another reason why promotions are so important. This increase in motivation leads to better productivity and performance that in turn works in the favor of your organization. Moreover, a promotion also improves and increases loyalty among the employees since they tend to feel a sense of belonging in the workplace and start thinking in its favor.
• Encourages retention: When the right talent is identified by the management and timely promotion is practiced, the deserving and skilled employees may not be forced to leave the workplace. This improves the retention of the skilled and talented employees and thus benefits the workplace even further. By retaining top level workers and employees, your organization prevents the need for hiring new talent and then grooming them all over again, thus saving time and money.
• Develops competitive spirit at the workplace: When the better team person gets promoted, the other team members may be charged and motivated to perform better than them, and this helps to develop a healthy competitive spirit at the workplace. This kind of a spirit is good for an organization since it promises good performances all around and hence an overall improved productivity.
• Grooms leaders for the future: When the management decides to promote employees for their hard work, they are basically recognizing talent and finding future leaders. This identification of future leaders enables them to groom employees for the future and makes them explore their skills and talent further. Grooming leaders for the future is beneficial for the organization and helps to improve the overall productivity.
• Reduces employee resistance and discontent: If employees go on working hard without any appreciation, praise or appraisal, a sense of discontent and resistance may crop up, and this may not be good for the organization. This can even make their performance go down, hence proving negative for the company. But internal promotion can help to reduce employee resistance and discontent.