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3 reasons management should show more interest in the B players

According the article we read, around 80% employees are B players and since they are not as high performers as the top 10% or the A player or as poor performers as the bottom 10% AKA the C players, they do not draw much attention(Delong, Vijayaraghavan, 2003).
Following are the reasons why management should show more interest in the B players, because these are the employees who grind out the work so the stars can shine (Hollon, 2012)-
Long term players – as the B players stick around for long time, I would say they can provide valuable input to set long term strategy for any organization. Since they know what is not working so well and what can be made better.
As I have experienced in the companies I have worked in, management often changes strategy, such as training or benefits or hiring strategy. And B players are never consulted. But B players could give valuable feedback and let the management know if their strategy is working or if it is not going to be effective. In my experience B players can be great trainers and mentors because they have lot of experience of doing the job and they know what the resources need to know to do the job and management should leverage that as asset. It would be win -win for both the management and the B players. The B players would feel valued and management can benefit from their experience and insight.

Knowledge Transfer - B players know process, they know and understand people. For example, I work in a consulting firm, and we get deployed to different client locations based on project needs. I see a great value in B player, when new resources join B players can be their mentors. The new resources can find out the processes or about the client and other people from the B players. I am sure this is true for almost all industry with slight differences. As I see it B players provide great foundation to any team and reduces ramp up time for any new resource who join the team. The management should take notice of such contribution from B players and recognize the resource for that.

Different Perspective – Nowadays we are seeing a positive change in work place everywhere. Every corporate boardroom is talking about diversity, but the main point is representing diverse culture and perspective. I believe B players can provide that different perspective to management from ground level. The B players have advantage of being hands on and being there for a long time and understanding the trade. While the A players think alike and may be think about some new ideas they want to introduce, B players perspective or feedback can really help to shape the idea and make those ideas more effective.  And this is applicable for any project or any business unit in any organization. Management need to be welcoming of different point of views and perspectives, understanding those might not match with their own point of view. And more over the management need to encourage B players to share their perspective on different topics and then as for their feedback.

References –
Delong T J. and Vijayaraghavan, V (June, 2003). Let’s Hear It for B Players. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2003/06/lets-hear-it-for-b-players
Hollon J ( July,2012). Is Anybody Out There in Our Workforce Average Anymore? Retrieved from https://www.tlnt.com/is-anybody-out-there-in-our-workforce-average-anymore/



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