B Players Coming To The Front

Monday September 15, 2003

In June, Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan published an article titled "Let's Hear It for B Players" in the Harvard Business Review. It pointed out the futility of the "top 10%", the stars, without the 80% in the middle who get the work done. As important as this message is, it went unnoticed, buried in the back half of the magazine, until USA Today made it front page news last week.

They call them many things, but companies tend to lump employees into three categories, A, B, and C. One company splits the A's, their stars, into two grades ES (Exceeds Standards) and SE (Significantly Exceeds Standards) so they can manage their careers more closely. That same company splits the C's, the bottom of the barrel employees into two grades as well. FMs (Fails to Meet Standards) are put into Performance Improvement Plans. SFs (Significantly Fails to Meet Standards) are terminated. But the bulk of their employees, the B workers - who they grade MS (Meets Standards) - are upward of 80% of the company's workforce. It is these "Worker Bs" who get the work done, who convert the A Workers' "visions" into real plans and then actions, and who keep doing it for the sake of the company's success.

If DeLong and Vijayaraghavan, are right, and I think they are, maybe companies will start to realize the value of the Worker Bs and begin to give them just enough respect to keep them happy and keep them around. That's really all they want.