Jack Welch’s “Secret Weapon”

Brad Smart helped create talent processes at General Electric when it was the most respected company in the world.  CEO Jack Welch drove talent to amazing heights and has written books about his methods, but he never revealed one of his “secret weapons” that helped propel his success.  Now you can learn it and begin using it today.

During my many years of consulting with General Electric, it was the most respected company — and Jack Welch the most respected CEO  in the world.  Welch continues to be tapped by the press about his secrets to running a successful business.  He often implores leaders to raise the talent bar and hold their managers more accountable for maintaining teams of all high performers.  But he rarely discloses one of his “secret weapons”, perhaps the most important lever he had for improving talent at G.E.  Not only can you learn it – you can use it, starting today.

Why Do Managers Protect Chronic Underperformers?

Welch says that he spent 50% of his time on talent issues.  Why so much time?  Because so many leaders would hide their low performers.  And even still today, every day, in millions of companies, managers hold operations reviews, performance appraisals, and talent reviews where they:

1. Cleverly try to hype their own performance in operations reviews;
2. Hide mediocre performers in talent reviews, figuring that replacing low performers is too risky – they too often turn out to be low performers;
3. Wimp out in performance appraisals, tolerating mediocre performance because they are afraid the tough truth would de-motivate someone;
4. “Game the system,” figuring that they’ll get a promotion next year if they work extra hard to offset a mediocre performer — because any replacement would be even less productive than the low performer for most of a year.

Implicit in “protecting” low performers is the correct assumption that most of the time, replacements turn out to be underperformers.

Welch’s frequently articulated, recommended approach is to be a tough leader — to sit in on those meetings and when you see managers covering for mediocre performers, not tolerate it. Welch would encourage you to NOT wimp out, but instead insist that chronic low performers be replaced, because these tough steps are necessary in order to maintain an A Player standard.

Jack Welch’s Secret Weapon: Topgrading

Managers who had the guts to push back against Welch’s admonitions might have said, “I know Pat is not up to par, but replacing her would be distracting and time consuming, and generally a replacement is no better.”  Is this a legitimate reason to keep low performers, or a feeble excuse?

Find out this answer and more by reading the full article here.