ABC … Easy as 123 – Cameron Herold (Business Mentor, Business Coach, & CEO Coach)

Cameron Herold is a truly creative and out-of-the-box thinker. The last time he was on the show Cameron reassured us that we’re not crazy, we’re just entrepreneurs on the entrepreneurial roller coaster. This time Cameron shares a vital tool for us to use when evaluating our employees.
On his Paper Napkin Cameron has drawn a matrix consisting of four boxes. We should be evaluating our employees every six months using this matrix, he says. The Y axis of the matrix measures results; low results at the bottom and high results at the top. The X axis is the measurement of alignment with company values, low alignment on the left and strong alignment on the right. Using these two units of measurement you plot everyone in your organization, all your people.
Plotting your employees is the easy part; once everyone has been plotted, it’s up to you to act. If someone is in the bottom left hand corner, they have low results and low alignment with company values. You have to set them free. They’re not benefiting the company and, more than likely, the company isn’t benefiting them. In setting them free, you give both parties the opportunity to find a better fit.
Diametrically opposed to the bottom left hand corner employee is the top right hand corner employee. These are the people with high results and high alignment with company values. It is imperative that you find a way to handcuff them to the company. You don’t want to literally handcuff them, obviously, but you do want to keep them with you for at least 5 to 10 years. To do that, you need to put an individual program in place to satisfy the needs of each individual A player.
An overarching retention program, while a lovely idea, isn’t necessarily effective because each A player may want something completely different. They may prefer more vacation time to higher pay, or they may want more visibility in the media- no two employees are going to want exactly the same thing and by taking the time to find out what they really want, you are far more likely to retain them.
The last two quadrants are a little more complicated. If you have someone in the bottom right hand corner, they have high alignment with company values but low results. You need to take a moment and evaluate whether or not you have them in the right seat. What are their skills? Where can you put them to fully utilize their skills?
If you switch them to a role better suited to their skill level, you can quickly change a C player to an A player. Conversely, if you have an employee who has high results but low alignment with company value, you have to let them go. It can be hard to let go of someone who’s getting results, but if they’re not aligned with the company’s values they’re costing you more than they’re worth. In fact, Cameron says that they’re costing you 15 times their annual salary due to the negativity and problems they cause. You need to let them go.
You should be making your business like a cult, says Cameron. “A cult would never let anyone stay in who didn’t buy in or who was negative because it would ruin the cult,” he says. We have to make our businesses like that; we need to concentrate on our A players and get rid of the C players because if we aren’t doing that, we risk losing A players and we’re holding ourselves back from true progress.
That’s why Cameron’s matrix is so important, it helps us figure out who truly is an A player and who isn’t. With that knowledge, we can make the decisions that need to be made so that we can set our businesses up for success.
Listen to my conversation with Cameron here:

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