What Happens After DARC

A couple of weeks ago I was as a VP of Marketing executive breakfast put on by Corporate Ink. At the session Mike Volpe outlined his DARC framework for recruiting.  In addition to DARC, Mike said he looks for people with ability to GSD – Get Stuff Done.

This got me thinking about what happens beyond the hire, and while we all strive to build great teams, what happens when the team needs “coaching.” Below is a framework that categorizes employees into 4 quadrants.

The dimensions should be pretty straight forward. On the vertical axis what is the employee’s initiative: Do they create new projects? Come up with imaginative ideas? Do they push the boundaries of their jobs and strive to make everyone around them better? On the horizontal axis I measure ability to deliver: Do they complete projects? What kind of revisions or rework is required? How much supervision do they need?

This results in the 4 types of employees:

1. Top Right – GSD: Get Stuff Done. Clearly we all want our teams in this category. For the most part these employees need minimal guidance and when you go to them with an initiative, they have often already started, or they “get it” immediately. As a manager, the best thing you can do is help them by removing obstacles.
2. Bottom Left – SBF: Should be Fired. Although this seems obvious too often these employees are left to flounder. Maybe they are transferred to another department. My experience is these people can actually make everyone else less productive. Worse than adding no value they actually consume energy from the team.
3. Top Left – EPD: Enthusiastic Puppy Dog. These are the people who are always coming up with big thoughts, telling you they will pick up the extra project and that your ideas are brilliant. However, their follow though leaves a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, in some organizations these people rise up quite well.
4. Bottom Right – EBD: Eeyore But Delivers. This is the person who sighs ever time you ask them something, or rolls their eyes when you kick off a new initiative. However, once you leave their office they plug away, buy into your request and deliver what you asked for – on time!

OK, so these are a bit exaggerated. Given that – I always struggle between team members who with all good intention take on tasks they do not quite do, versus the energy of overcoming the Eeyores, who are always pushing back.

How do you do performance management of your team?