[jacquesm]

It is true that not everybody can be brought to succeed in every environment, but I think that's exactly what the article tries to convey. That if you feel that you are surrounded by 'B' players that the problem does not lie with the players but with the way the game is played.

And that is fixable. Adapting the game to the players will go a very long way to making 'B' players perform better, in some cases by relocating them to different roles or maybe sending them out to training.

Trying to ram square pegs through round holes will not work, that's the way to create 'B' players. And a very large amount of this is the result of poor hiring practices, hiring people that do not fit their roles or the corporate culture or the level of management they need (vs the degree of independence they crave).

Fitting the company to the people isn't always possible, we usually don't run armies where piles of conscripts ('soldiers') are being run through the mill to see who can be promoted to a role of more responsibility.

So oversimplifying it definitely is not the road, but simply saying person 'x' is a 'B' player and is beyond help is probably not the truth either.

[calinet6]

In 99% of cases, the problem is not with the people within a company, but with the motivational, management, and work systems which surround them. That is the point.

It is important to realize subtleties in how people operate, but it's more important to realize that most problems are attributable to the system and not the individuals.

Critically important, in fact. That's why it's the right way to look at the problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming