Most people 'think' they evaluate players objectively. When we hear "performance improvement plan," most people think 'sub-par performance'.
Consultant Dave Kline looks at this differently. "17 leaders scored the same employee. 7 said below expectations. 6 said at. 4 said above. Here's what their disagreement actually revealed."
Immediately, you might think, "what does this have to do with basketball?"
In Kline's analysis, evaluators assessed employees on three dimensions:
If you're selling T-shirts, a quality reduction with enhanced volume and stable cost might win. In healthcare, quality reductions might mean lives lost. A low-quality surgeon or nurse gets cut.
In basketball, we seen lists of "Top Players" or "MVP candidates" all the time. Based on what or based on "the eyeball test?"
- Wins above replacement
- Individual offensive metrics
- Individual defensive metrics
- Team offense
- Team defense
I remember reading a local paper about a high school game. "So-and-so" led her team with ten points. It didn't say that she had seven turnovers or played abysmal defense or that it took her 15 shots to get ten points. One might infer that "So-and-so" was star of the game. That wasn't reality.
As an evaluator, want to evaluate a player on her ability to improve the team, to improve players around you, and to impact winning. Those three parameters, per se, are not specific.
Back in the day, I modified Lee Rose's system and used it to track performance...calling it the RPS (Ratings Performance System). It rewarded possessions and efficiency. By no means does it capture everything that happens, especially defensively.
Kline adds context:
Written expectations. Specific measures. A defined bar for success. A scheduled review cadence. A record of what changed and when.
You just put every person on that team on a performance improvement plan. In January. Before anyone was failing. And no one even realized it.
We don't hold sportswriters, columnists, and broadcasters to those standards. And bloggers? It's the Wild West.
Tracking team turnovers and team shooting percentage for middle schoolers reduced turnovers and bad shots. We never reported individual stats, but players knew they were accountable.
Former Bill Belichick assistant Ernie Adams kept a sign on his desk, "STAMP OUT BAD FOOTBALL." The point was clear - bad football loses games and the NFL is a "bottom line" business.
The next time we read "MVP candidates," at the very least we might ask, "says who" and "by what criteria?"
Lagniappe. Matching players to our needs.
