There is no such thing as a C Player.

Or at least, there shouldn’t be.

You’re either an A Player or you are a B Player, with or without the potential to be an A Player.

Professional sports teams wouldn’t have any space for C Players, so why should your GTM team?

This lens does require two considerations:

1️⃣ – Your A Player rating is relative to the level of your role. For example, you could have a junior and senior AE who are both A Players. The junior AE with 1 year of experience isn’t going to be as strong as the senior AE with 10+ years of experience.

You rate them relative to their position.

2️⃣ – Being an A Player is subject to form.  There’s literally a phrase for it: ‘Bringing your A game.’

Even the greatest performers can fall out of form.

This is why a critical part of creating the environment for a winning team is to create a place where A Players can thrive.

Help the A and B+ Players in your team to thrive by:
🔋 Focusing on their growth – empowering their growth mindset with a roadmap

🔋 Removing barriers that slow them down (𝙐𝙣𝙥𝙤𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 ‘𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘴’ 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉− 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴)

🔋 Enthusing them with recognition and rewards (𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 $$$)

There is obviously a great deal of depth to each of the above, but it’s not overly complicated.

Yet, one thing I don’t think we discuss enough is how disproportionately leaders focus their time on the non-A players in their team.

If leaders were forced to profile their team:
• A Player – 🥇.
• B+ Player – Has potential to be an A, 𝗢𝗥 is out of form.
• B− Player – Does not have the potential to be an A.

How much of their time is w̶a̶s̶t̶e̶d̶ spent on the B− Players? 🤔