Of all the questions, WHO is the most burning. Is your organization still using the standard job description during your hiring process? Are you tucking it away once you make the hire? Well, that needs to change…TODAY!

According to Geoff Smart and Randy Street, authors of Who: The A Method for Hiring, an A Player is someone who has at least a 90% chance of achieving a set of outcomes that only the top 10% of possible candidates could achieve. Every organization should be motivated to fill their team with A Players not just for the countless advantages, but especially because bad hires are costly and infectious. The first stop on your journey to get your A team: Job Scorecards.

I was introduced to Job Scorecards several years ago and I constantly reference concepts from Smart and Street’s book along with the Topgrading methodology developed by Brad Smart as it’s evident that ‘Who’ is the #1 problem we all face.

The Job Scorecard, which can be used during both the hiring of new employees and managing the performance of existing employees, includes 5 key components:

The Purpose of the Job:
Why does the position exist in the company? It should be one sentence clearly written, not jargon-filled and difficult to decipher.
Desired Results:
What are the measurable outcomes to be achieved in the role? Establishing KPIs for each outcome takes this one step further enabling use for hiring, onboarding, and performance management.
Key Responsibilities:
What are the specific actions, tasks, and areas of responsibility for the role? Managers should have a people-specific component that focuses on sourcing and nurturing A Players. This will transform your organization as your team will start to view the business through a ‘Who’ lens.
Skills, Traits, and Competencies:
What’s necessary to be successful in this role? How will the employee achieve the purpose and outcomes of this role?
Living the Core Values:
How can you demonstrate that you’re living the core values in the role? I repeatedly stress the importance of having core values in place, and to avoid a ‘Who failure’ that can infect your organization, core values need to be at the center of your hiring process (and, of course, decision-making).

Smart and Street emphasize the importance of getting the ‘Who’ right considering the average hiring mistake costs 15 times an employee’s base salary in hard costs and productivity loss.

‘Who’ is our #1 Problem… Are you focused on fixing it? Make it your #1 opportunity by implementing Job Scorecards.

Reach out for your free copy of the Job Scorecard Template and get ready to flood your organization with A Players!