The Wall Street Journal recently profiled Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson, a 6-7 sharpshooter with an improbable journey to the NBA.
All 9 of Duncan Robinson’s 3’s from last nights win against the Orlando Magic đ„đ„đ„ pic.twitter.com/jbyLZLezyy
â Official Duncan Robinson Fan Club (@DR55FanClub) March 5, 2020
My favorite anecdote is when Robinsonâs high school coach chided him for passing up a shot.
âYouâre being selfish,â his coach said, per the article. âYouâre being selfish if you donât shoot.â
Itâs rare to hear a coach call a player selfish for trying to be unselfish, but Iâm surprised it doesnât happen more frequently. When a gifted player deprives his/her team of their best asset, it hinders the teamâs success – especially when that skill is in short supply.
Seems pretty straightforward. So why is this such a foreign concept in the workplace?
Companies Can Be Their Own Worst Enemies
Rather than employees wasting their talents, what Iâve seen more often is employers under-utilizing their employeesâ unique talents and unknowingly suffering the consequences.
How many times have you seen the Peter principle firsthand? Ever witness colleagues shoehorned into roles that donât play to their strengths, but they satisfy the companyâs immediate needs? In some cases, thereâs an overlap between the skills required for the role and the candidateâs abilities. But more often than not, the Venn diagram barely intersects.
The results – less innovation, higher employee churn and burnout, lower employee engagement – are avoidable. But to solve this, it will take a shift in mindset.
To be clear, Iâm not advocating for a school-recess environment where employees pursue whatever activity suits them best regardless if it serves the companyâs needs. Companies are accountable to their shareholders and have to run their businesses accordingly.
What I believe, though, is that employeesâ roles should be less rigid and ought to be defined – at least in part – by individualsâ unique skill sets instead of 100% based on the companyâs perceived needs. More on this later.
This Mindset Is Common Sense
I worked for the Houston Texans during defensive coordinator Wade Phillipsâ tenure from 2011-13. Heâs renowned for his 3-4 defense, but Phillips always tailored his defense to his talent and not the other way around.
âI donât understand the people that say, âHey, this is our scheme and that guy canât play in it,ââ Phillips said to Sports Illustrated in 2016. âWell, to me, thereâs something wrong with your scheme. You adapt the scheme to what the players can do, not what you can think of. Weâve always done it that way.â
Phillips has been a part of 21 different top-10 defensive units during his NFL career and has coached a total of 31 Pro Bowlers. He knows his shit.
So what is the solution for the workplace?
Solutions Require Acknowledgments
The problem weâre discussing occurs when:
- Companies do a poor job hiring*
- Employees are promoted from individual contributors (ICs) to managers
- Existing roles morph into something employees were not originally hired for
For No. 1, weak job descriptions attract the wrong candidates by misleading people on what the actual role entails – leading to poor fit and wasted time. Also, when companies cut corners on the vetting process, they can miss glaring signs that the candidate is not suited for the role and they may not even identify the candidateâs greatest strengths.
Here are two things I recommend:
- For each role, clearly describe the qualities of someone competent in that role vs. someone who is incompetent. Investor Ben Horowitz offers an example here.
- Require every new hire to take the CliftonStrengths assessment and discuss the results. This is what the output looks like. This data should shape the final job duties.
For No. 2, the primary reason why ICs aspire to be managers is because they think itâs the only way to earn more. Few people genuinely love to manage employees, and thereâs a subset of these people (typically narcissists) who love the idea of ruling over their own fiefdom. These people are sick.
The solution is for companies to create career laddering tracks for individual contributors whereby they can earn as much – if not more – than their managers. This will help companies avoid the majority of square-peg-round-hole scenarios.
For No. 3, companies often add work to employeesâ plates and characterize these maneuvers as temporary until someone else is hired or additional personnel moves are made. To be fair, companies may believe these are stopgap measures.
Whatever the case, these decisions lead to less employee bandwidth and more employee resentment, and often the additional burden falls outside of employeesâ core competencies.
In these scenarios, the ball is in employeesâ courts to communicate that they can add more value in other ways or that theyâre ill-suited for the current role. It could be that what the company urgently needs is not aligned with an employeeâs skillset. If thatâs the case, employees can grin and bear it, or leave.
Companies cannot do acrobatics to keep employees happy if their house is on fire. On the flipside, do employees want to work at a place where everything is a fire drill?
Written by 3rd & Lamar co-founder Nick Schenck
*In terms of hiring, this book, âWho: The A Method For Hiring,â came highly recommended. Itâs on my list to read it, but figured Iâd share it with you. Also, here are top interview questions from First Round Capital.
