Topgrading (revised PHP Edition) : How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching and Keeping the Best People

by Smart, Bradford D.

• ISBN13: 9781591840817
• ISBN10: 1591840813
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-04-07
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover

Summary

Great companies don't just depend on strategies they depend on people. The more great people on your team, the more successful your organization will be. But that's easier said than done. Statistically, half of all employment decisions result in a mis-hire: The wrong person winds up in the wrong job. But companies that have followed Bradford Smart's advice in Top grading have boosted their successful hiring rate to 90 percent or better, giving them an unbeatable competitive advantage. Now Smart has fully revised his 1999 management classic to reintroduce the top grading concept, which works for companies large and small in any industry. The author spells out his practical approach to finding and managing A-level talent as well as coaching B players to turn them into A players. He provides intriguing case studies drawn from more than four thousand in-depth interviews. As Smart writes in his introduction, 'All organizations, all businesses live or die mostly on their talent, and any manager who fails to top grade is nuts, or a C player. . . . Those who, way deep down, would sooner see an organization die than nudge an incompetent person out of a job should not read this book... Top grading is for A players and all those aspiring to be A players.'

Author Biography

Bradford D. Smart, Ph.D., is the president of Smart & Associates, Inc., based in the Chicago area. A well-known industrial psychologist and consultant with nearly thirty-five years in practice, he has worked with dozens of major companies, including General Electric, Bank of America, and John Deere.

Table of Contents

Preface: What's New in Topgrading	ix
Introduction: Talent Wins	xvii
Part One TOPGRADING FOR COMPANIES: ACHIEVING THE A PLAYER STANDARD
Topgrading: Every Manager's Top Priority	3	(33)
The Financial and Career Costs of Not Topgrading	36	(20)
Hiring and Promoting Talent: The Topgrading Platinum Standard	56	(49)
Redeploying Chronic B and C Players: A Moral Approach	105	(20)
Topgrading Case Studies: A Players, No Excuses	125	(45)
Obstacles to Topgrading, and How A Players Overcome Them: A Review of Major Topgrading Principles in Part One	170	(19)
Part Two TOPGRADING FOR INDIVIDUALS: DEVELOPING YOURSELF AND YOUR TEAM
Becoming an A Player: Having Your Cake and Eating It Too	189	(28)
Fixing Weaknesses in Each of Fifty Competencies: The Straightest Path to Success	217	(29)
Coaching 101: The Topgrading-Based Model	246	(26)
Case Studies: Coaching to Fix Weaknesses	272	(37)
Part Three MASTERING THE TOPGRADING INTERVIEWING GUIDE AND LEGALITIES IN USING IT
Your Most Powerful Tool: The Topgrading Interview Guide	309	(45)
Avoiding Legal Problems: A ``Bulletproof'' Approach to Safe Hiring, Managing, and Firing Practices	354	(193)
Epilogue: Topgrading in the Future	421	(10)
APPENDICES
A. Topgrading Interview Guide	431	(55)
B. Self-Administered Topgrading Interviewing Guide	486	(16)
C. Career History Form	502	(9)
D. In-Depth Reference Check Guide	511	(7)
E. Candidate Assessment Scorecard	518	(4)
F. Interviewer Feedback Form	522	(5)
G. Sample Competencies---Management	527	(9)
H. Sample Individual Development Plan	536	(4)
I. Cost of Mis-Hires Form	540	(4)
J. Topgraders---Contact Information for Consulting and Licensing Forms	544	(3)
Index	547