I’ve seen good players and bad players, more than I’d like to have seen. On occasion a real honest to goodness rock star, A player, whatever you like to call them comes along. When you meet A Players and get the opportunity to work closely with them you always learn something and come out of the experience with new tools in your toolbox. I’ve never seen an A Player terminated or laid off.
So what makes an A player actively look for work? Is it lack of motivation? Is it an argument with their pointy haired boss? Is it a need to do something more profound?
Of the A players I’ve had the opportunity to work with, the unifying reason for leaving is frustration. A Players see what needs to be done, they know how to get it done, they have all the right pieces in play to get it done, but someone has tied their hands. A Players have the motivation and the drive to move. They want things done, now. Standing in an A Players way of getting the job done is just as effective as chopping your own foot off to spite your face.
I had a good friend tell me many years ago that A Players are the ones with jobs that are looking on Monster or Career Builder just to see what’s out there. I think there has to be a reason for contemplating the thought of leaving. Be it a stubborn CEO who won’t let go the reins of huge company, or a SVP that takes your ideas and spins them as his own; there’s always a reason.
What caused you to look for a job? (see, I’m assuming that you’re an A-player/rock star/whatever because you’re here which means you’re awesome)
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
you nailed it.
frustration.
when A players see what needs to be done, and cannot get it done, more often than not the thought is: “time to move on to someplace that I can accomplish something”.
if I hire PlayerA and tell her to find ways to make me more efficient, and every plan is met with “but we always do it this way” – I don’t need PlayerA, I just need someone who will implement the plans I come up with for efficiency.
@Tammy It seems to defeat the purpose of hiring an A Player if you stand in their way. You have to know that person is going to get things done and have brilliant ideas, why else would you hire them. To say “We dont do it that way” or “I dont think that’ll work” is just adding one more notch in their reasons for leaving.
This begs the question– “Why was the A Player hired in the first place, if everything s/he does is stagnated?”
@MattyMat – They were probably hired to make changes and moves but you know some managers/executives have issues with letting go of control or are major micromanages.
It’s a tremendous management weakness – the intense desire to hire A players, yet no stomach for a change agent. A company itself really has to have guts to hire and really use the talents of such an exec. Then, there is the exec who hires them and is afraid the Board will like Ms. A better. It just plays into all sorts of fears…
@Marsha As the old saying goes, if you cant stand the heat get out of the fire….. If you cant handle the forward momentum, dont recruit A Players.
The worst part of the A Player moving on is the aftermath of deflated employee morale they leave behind. The trust, confidence and boost to employee morale is virtually impossible to maintain. Their sucessor must step into the shoes of an A Player who made the decision to move on…how do you recruit to fill those such big shoes and such a large gap? How can we tell those in the C-suite to get their heads out of the sand while the rest of us are finally enjoying our job and getting to enjoy life being on the same team as an A Player?