It’s a harsh reality, but it’s true.
The first indicator of quality talent is desire — not intelligence.
I’ve seen people who are not the smartest, who are not most strategic, who are not the best strategic thinkers, but who kick butt everyday because of their passion, because they care about the company and helping people.
There are a lot of people that just want to show up everyday and put in their time, feel like they matter and then go home. Their passion lies elsewhere and unless you’re MIT, UCLA or your’re doing exceptional work to make the cream of the crop show up on your doorstep, then you are going to be like most organizations slogging through mediocre talent.
Most of the time only 20% of your team is extraordinary and then you’ve got the middle – lets just say 60% – and then you’ve got 20% of your team that’s totally missing the mark. It’s your job to figure out how to get that 60% performing at such a level that they sustain profitability, forward momentum and a competitive edge.
At MK Performance Grou, we put an emphasis on developing high-performers, because thats our area of expertise, but hey, it’s not horrible to have average performers whom you don’t have doubts about everyday and whom you know you can count on to get the job done.
It’s not extraordinary, but if the work is done right, you can make them your bread and butter.
