Any organization is bound to have three types of employees, although successful organizations will address "cutters" and create an environment that allows all employees to work to their full potential. In a SelectInternational whitepaper, Kevin Klinvex explains the costs and rewards of builders, cutters and maintainers.
Cutters are underperformers, but there are a few different types of cutters. Some make their shortcomings obvious, while others fly under the radar and demonstrate excellence at just the right time. These descriptions can pertain to executives, too. For instance, executives who are more focused on managing their image and reputation than making long-term decisions are cutters since they negatively impact performance.
One cutter can hurt an entire group of people, as this person cuts into morale, quality, output, patient relationships, innovation, profits, and eventually, the viability of an organization. "It is not practical to believe cutters can be salvaged through heroic training and development efforts," said Mr. Klinvex. Instead, they should be replaced with more productive employees — builders.
Builders are an organization's top-performers. They have a passion for their job and get things done. They don't blame others, stay late or work weekends to get things done, don't portray themselves as victims and are not threatened by others' success.
Maintainers fall between the cutters and the builders by maintaining consistency in an organization. They are generally not prone to moving from one company to another but are content with doing an adequate job, getting their paycheck and leaving on time. They may not demonstrate stellar performance, but they also won't make big mistakes. Maintainers serve as the memory-keepers for many organizations, since they stay year-after-year.
The old adage is to maintain your maintainers, cut your cutters and cherish your builders, according to the white paper. Conventional hiring and performance management do not always identify these personas, so it falls upon management to check the pulse of employees to understand the ratio of these three personas within their organization.
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Cutters are underperformers, but there are a few different types of cutters. Some make their shortcomings obvious, while others fly under the radar and demonstrate excellence at just the right time. These descriptions can pertain to executives, too. For instance, executives who are more focused on managing their image and reputation than making long-term decisions are cutters since they negatively impact performance.
One cutter can hurt an entire group of people, as this person cuts into morale, quality, output, patient relationships, innovation, profits, and eventually, the viability of an organization. "It is not practical to believe cutters can be salvaged through heroic training and development efforts," said Mr. Klinvex. Instead, they should be replaced with more productive employees — builders.
Builders are an organization's top-performers. They have a passion for their job and get things done. They don't blame others, stay late or work weekends to get things done, don't portray themselves as victims and are not threatened by others' success.
Maintainers fall between the cutters and the builders by maintaining consistency in an organization. They are generally not prone to moving from one company to another but are content with doing an adequate job, getting their paycheck and leaving on time. They may not demonstrate stellar performance, but they also won't make big mistakes. Maintainers serve as the memory-keepers for many organizations, since they stay year-after-year.
The old adage is to maintain your maintainers, cut your cutters and cherish your builders, according to the white paper. Conventional hiring and performance management do not always identify these personas, so it falls upon management to check the pulse of employees to understand the ratio of these three personas within their organization.
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