In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team...........brrrrrrrm da da da da da da da da da da dih da, da da da da da !
I never set out to write about the A-Team, but it suddenly seems like a good idea, you see an article popped up in my inbox which talked about the preference of hiring the team player over the A player and it reminded me about a time a few years ago now when I was asked to roll out Top Grading recruitment training. Now I totally get the concept behind Top Grading, it's about hiring the best, you know like a crack commando, who has the ability to get out out of complex situations (metaphoric maximum security stockade) with the hope they are so good they don't get into them in the first place. The kind of top performing highly rated individual wanted by every organisation and if you find them maybe you can hire the A Player.....brrrrrm da da .....you know the rest.............however, you don't hire teams, you hire individuals and in most cases then expect them to perform in a team.
Samson, Van Zanten, Goodwin, McAusland, Dummett, Teale, McGowan, Newton, McGinn, Goncalves, Thompson, Carey, Mair, Parkin, McLean & Adam. Those surnames won't mean too much to you (a lot to me) depending on where you live, but eight days ago they upset the odds to lift their clubs first trophy in 26 years through good old fashioned team work. When things weren't going their way they worked together, it wasn't one individual who secured victory it was a combination of individual skills and experiences that achieved success. Why it was almost like the team had been assembled that way. A real life A Team.
So back to the hiring of A players, the first problem I had with it was that when challenged about targeting the A's the response would always be "don't worry, we still need the B player" How motivating is that, hey.....you over there, yeah the B player ? Hmmmm go team you say. The mindset was always about hiring A players rather than creating the A team and that got me to thinking, the A player ain't all that....so how about the A-Team then...
The article I spoke of earlier talked about a couple of critical values and skills including Selflessness and camaraderie but I think the A-Team has others up their sleeve.
Hannibal - The Leader, his plans were always a bit elaborate but he had real foresight to see how it would all come together. Chief Skill - Visionary
Face - As good as second in command, a keen eye for the ladies and big on the schmooz, his key role was in procurement of all things required on the mission - Chief Skill - Communication
Howling Mad - Pilot and all round nutter ( I like him), Mad Murdoch may live in a Veterans mental institution but it is hardly a lock up given how frequently he comes and goes depending on the mission. Chief Skill - Navigation
B.A - Adorned with enough gold to cash in for a european away trip B.A was the teams muscle and mechanic. There was nothing he couldn't build with the guts of a scrap car, a few pipes and some blu-tak. Chief Skill - Innovation
So there you have it, how hiring an A player is fine if they all bring enough skills to be the A-Team. Hire the skills and not the ego's, pull them together and implement your plans......also a blatant opportunity to mention St.Mirren but there is one final lesson I have to tell you about the A-Team.
Always grow and further develop the teams skills on a regular basis and make sure you see that the success of a team lies with the skills and experience of the individuals and if you ever need to build another team do so with the same formula of hiring the individuals and never just try to recreate..........
That Learning Dude @LearningXDude
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