A Core Employee, a Role Player & One of The Walking Dead Are Hired by the Company…

28 Feb A Core Employee, a Role Player & One of The Walking Dead Are Hired by the Company…

The Workforce Development Coach’s Answer of the Day:  Team Leaders are the best at determining who are the Walking Dead. And after they do that, what should happen?

Since I’m engaged in daily Workforce Development Coaching for Team Leaders from the Front Line to the C Suite, not a day goes by where there isn’t an interesting coaching program question. Today’s interesting question:

“What should we do after identifying Core Employees, The Role Players and The Walking Dead?”

My Answer: Front Line Team Leaders know which of the three categories every Members of their Team belongs in. When implementing a Continual Operational Performance Improvement (C.O.P.I.©) at a company, I ask each Team Leader to make a list of their Best Employees (Core Employees) and their Worst Employees (The Walking Dead) and they complete the list quickly and with no hesitation.

BTW: Anyone not in those two categories is automatically a Role Player – a Steady Eddie or Betty – that are essential to the operation of the company but whose potential to do more than they are currently doing is limited for a variety of reasons – some personal and dome organizational.

However, once this information is collected something positive needs to be done with it. Failure to take action generates dissatisfaction among the Team Leaders involved. An Action Plan I recommend is to create a Development Program for each group of employees. This will create job satisfaction for Core Employees and the opportunity for the Role Players to become Core Employees and The Walking Dead to become Role Players (seldom will a Walking Dead move from being a Walking Dead to being a Core Employee without first being a Role Player – just too big a psychological jump).

While the Walking Dead should not be tolerated, the company has invested resources and time training them, so they need to be offered the opportunity to become Role Players. Those who follow the Development Program and become Role Players remain employed; those who cannot become employed at some other company.

Then the Hiring Process needs to be revamped to limit the opportunity of The Walking Dead to become employed by the company, since the easiest way to deal with The Walking Dead is not to hire them in the first place.

I could be wrong…but I’m usually not. But your comments and opinions could convince me I’m wrong this time.

So, am I wrong?