Last year I had the pleasure of
working with a pair of engagement consultants who gave me and the rest of the
senior management team some great advice and tips on how to engage our
employees effectively.
The concept of the 20:60:20 rule
was one that I had seen prior to this meeting but they approached it very
differently to how I had seen it used before.
Explanation of the traditional 20:60:20
- The Top
20% comprised of strong performers
- The
Middle 60% comprised of average performers
- The
Bottom 20% comprised of weak performers
Simply
you leave the top 20% to their own devices, giving them opportunity for
autonomy, the middle 60% you concentrate most of your time on, developing the
potential and the bottom 20% you need to manage most vigorously.
·
The Top 20% comprised of strongly engaged employees
·
The Middle 60% comprised of averagely engaged employees
·
The Bottom 20% comprised of disengaged employees
When
I first saw this model I was convinced that you should spend trying to increase
engagement, specifically in the bottom 20% as I have always believed that
disengaged employees may often have a reason for this caused by the company
(eg. been passed over for promotion, doesn’t feel they are trusted, is never
offered more autonomy etc) but I was told that this was the wrong way to look
at it. Over the past year or so I have come to agree with the engagement model
and I wanted to share their advice with you.
Please
note: The top 20% are not necessarily the “best” at their jobs, but they are
the people that most demonstrate your company values. This is important because
skills can be learnt, whereas high performers with attitude problems are hard
to change and can cause friction across the business.
The
top 20% should be given the most opportunities and attention. These people will
act in the best interests of the company, so give them the autonomy to get the
job done. Challenge them and grow them. This group should be offered
development opportunities first.
The
middle 60% should be given training opportunities to develop the basics but
development opportunities will always be offered to the top 20% first. This
group should be encouraged but main focus should always remain on the top 20%.
This 60% will see the benefit of showing themselves as more engaged with the
business (eg. loyalty, extra effort, company-wide thinking) and will often
mimic the behaviour of the top 20%.
The
bottom 20% should basically be ignored. Obviously from a functional capacity
they will receive job training but they do not get access to the extra
development offered to those in the top 20%. This group will make one of two
choices, decide that they want the opportunities and therefore change their
behaviour or they will leave the company.
As
this process continues to work, your bottom 20% will move up to the level of
the bottom of your 60%. You will always recruit people who are the same or
better than your top 20%, this means that you will constantly be moving
employees up.
I
am not suggesting that you have a list of which employees lie in which group,
this would be pointless because it can change frequently. It is more a litmus
test that says that we pay most attention to those who most demonstrate the
company’s culture and reward them for their behaviour.
The
one thing that they said that really stuck with me was:
“If
you focus all of your attention on the bottom 20%, the whiners and moaners, everyone
else in the company will see which way you are looking (backwards) and start to
follow, if you are always looking forwards that’s where they will all aim”.
Anyone
who has worked with horses will know, you can lead a horse without a head
collar or rope, if you walk with your eyes forward they will come. The moment
you turn round and try to coax him, the horse will be confused because you are
facing backwards and trying to control. This works the same way with people –
face forward, take them with you and they will follow.
