Breaking a Rookie into the Game. Promoting an Employee to the Next Level.

Point to Ponder: In business or in sports, people are hired based on their skills. The day of reckoning is when a person is asked to perform in situations where the game is on the line with thousands of people screaming and loud music playing in the background.

Story Line: Most organizations like corporations, sports teams, studios, normally go through a rigorous screening process to select “the right” candidate for a job.

But what determines the success of an employee and/or the team going forward? There is a dual responsibility here; on the employee and much more on the manager. Assessing when to break/introduce a person in different situations is an extremely important aspect of coaching and managing.

In the early 90s, a major league baseball team needed to win the final game of the season to get into the playoffs.

For the most crucial game of the season, the manager had two reliable veterans available to pitch but he decided to go with a very promising, hard throwing rookie pitcher.

He was known for being people’s manager and possibly envisioned headline stories written about the boldness and the genius of him, and the guts of the rookie. But the experienced fans who had watched the rookie’s performance during the regular season were concerned that even though he was impressive and talented, he had not been tested in any high pressure situations during the regular season.

For those who watched the game, the rest is history. With a few hits from the opponents, the rookie crumbled. The opponents piled up a huge lead against the rookie pitcher by the third inning and the team never recovered and lost.

The most promising rookie of the year could not recover from the emotional shock and left baseball. His attempt to return a few years later was not successful.

With that decision on that fateful day, the manager did disservice to the team and ruined the career of a very promising young man.

Reflection:

I have seen such things happen several times in my career and at every level of the organization. Putting bright employees in charge of managing projects without training or coaching about people management skills and emotional readiness, asking very promising employee to present in front of a very hostile senior management without understanding his emotional maturity and preparing him for the audience, promoting good employees to the next level without necessary political savviness and emotional maturity.

I have also seen cases on the other side where young rookie employees with great potential, with good coaching and mentoring, have hit home run (did extremely well) in the big league (complex projects, interactions with senior management) in their first at bat.

This is an important lesson for managers and leaders in any field. Before promoting a person or assigning him/her to manage crucial tasks in a high pressure environment (Big League), asses if the person is emotionally/mentally ready to handle that level of challenges. If not, spend more time in coaching and preparation.

Comments

[EastCoast]

Or on the battlefied where one mistake can be deadly. A true day of reckoning.

[GCT]

I never forget the day you invite me to attend a big meeting with your boos and peers. You told us “but act like you belong there” we didn’t talk for two days of endless slides. LOL
Then several times you send me to classes with one mission “act the part”.
I remember these sometimes

[Humble Warrior]

the successful warrior is the average man with laser-like focus - Bruce Lee

[Ryan J Ong]

Very good reflection. Both for the manager (how to prepare someone and when to put them in the game), but also for the employee (to understand that it's not just about technical ability but being able to handle the specific situation, politics, emotional IQ, etc.)