The A-Player Model - A startup's guide to building talent on a Budget

In the past year, my boss and I frequently used the term "A-player" when discussing our team. We referred to top-tier talent, but I realised I had never critically examined what an A-player meant.??

What defines an A-player at Eden? Can someone excel elsewhere but be average here? Are we even a team of A-players, and most importantly, how do we cultivate this type of talent?

These questions led to the creation of my A-Player Competency Model and it had two clear goals:?

• Assess our existing talent pool against our pre-set A-player standards?
• Cultivate a team of A-Players. All within the typical startup’s limited budget.

My first task was defining the A-Player.?

The A-Player Is At The Top Of Their Game

They consistently excel and stand out in their role, driven primarily by an exceptional attitude and focus. This categorisation is not necessarily driven by skill level or expertise but by a proactive and resilient approach to challenge and opportunity.?

And so, an A-player can be fresh out of school, brimming with potential, or a senior executive with years of experience. They’re consistent, take initiative, demonstrate resilience, and even if they’re capable of excelling individually, they value teamwork.?

Still, the definition of an A-player will vary, depending on the role they're playing, and the company’s context.

A-Player Competencies for Startup Success

In my research, I identified 20 competencies that are commonly found among A-players across various levels and industries.?

I divided the competencies into three categories explained below:?

• Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving Competencies:

One way critical thinking manifests is Exponential Thinking: 10x improvements rather than incremental changes. Take a Facility Manager, for instance, instead of merely maintaining the building, they engineer an energy-saving system that improves efficiency and lowers annual electricity cost in a year by 8x. All without being prompted.

In another vein, Second & Third Order Thinking looks beyond the obvious effects of an action. A Product Manager who can foresee the domino effect of a single feature. Then there’s the QA Manager who uses First Principles Thinking to deconstruct negative customer feedback into its core problem.??

We also have Inversion, which Bill Carr and Colin Bryar described as Working Backwards. This is like building a house from the roof down. Our leadership team has mastered this art. Each year, we define our goal, then reverse-engineer the path (OKRs, strategies) to get there. It's a strategy as audacious as it is effective.

• Intrinsic Motivation and Attitude to Work:?

A-players are typically highly motivated individuals with an intense obsession with quality. They're often competitive and goal-oriented, finding satisfaction in overcoming challenges. This intrinsic motivation pushes them to excel in their roles.

• Another key competence category is a growth mindset. A-players are curious and eager to learn. They actively seek out new knowledge and experiences to improve their skills and performance. They’re also very ambitious, both personally and professionally.?

Implementation Strategies?

Leverage Limited Resources

As a People Leader, CEO, or startup executive, you're aware of tight budgets, which often lead to prioritising other areas over L&D. Learning and Development can be expensive, and it's quite the challenge to implement learning programs when you don’t have enough resources.?

However, where there is a will, there is a cheap and effective way.? After defining A-player competencies, we searched for free or low-cost learning resources. Special shout out to Praise Udemba here; we spent many days and nights on this. We were building an A-Player Resource Bank.

In pooling resources, we made sure (and this is important) to spool various forms: courses, articles, video tutorials, podcasts, and books. In designing learning programs, it is very easy to fall into the trap of curating activities favouring how you (the HR person) prefer to learn. You must be conscious of this bias and be inclusive in your design. Our bank of over 100 unique resources was ready in about two months.?        

Create Engaging Learning Experiences

Engaging learners is the next hurdle in designing a program like this. Learning can feel like a chore, so it is crucial to transform it into an enjoyable group activity. Research shows that collaborative learning significantly enhances the learning experience.

In our case, we carried out an A-player competency assessment to provide data on where team members had their strengths and weaknesses. To drive engagement, we made this a Peer Competency Assessment. In individual teams/departments, we had live sessions where we outlined all the A-Player competencies and asked team members to rate each other on each competency. These were very engaging, insightful sessions, as people saw their strengths and weaknesses through the eyes of their peers.?

We grouped employees into learning groups based on their skill needs. Each group followed a set learning plan. They studied specific materials for three weeks and then discussed what they learned in small group sessions. Two people from each group led these discussions.

For instance, 33 employees scoring below a certain competency level formed the Exponential Thinking Cohort. They were provided with 10-15 resources, requiring completion of at least five resources and the filling of a learning feedback form. After three weeks, participants joined live learning sessions divided into three groups of 11, each with two facilitators.

To enhance learning engagement, team leads committed to providing employees with an hour of uninterrupted time each week for focused studying. Designing learning activities in this way helps with team bonding, learning, and employee engagement; it's a win on all fronts.

Measure Impact and Iterate

Now, to the most challenging part of Learning and Development. After all is said and done, how do you measure the impact of your learning program? I always advocate using baseline metrics to measure any HR/people initiatives; that’s the same approach we use. Baseline metrics track a program's past performance to compare it with current or future results.?

As I mentioned above, we carried out a competency assessment before kicking off the program. This data served as our baseline metric and gave us a snapshot of the team's performance. At the midpoint or end of the program, the assessment is taken again to study any changes in behaviour and performance. Honestly, I’m very open to hearing opinions from readers on more ways to measure the impact of learning programs.?

In conclusion

Learning is essential for startup growth. Despite challenges, the key to making it happen is the intention to prioritise it. We’re lucky to live in a time when learning resources are freely accessible. Most times the primary resource you need to pull off a Talent Development or Learning Program is the human resource you already have within the company.?

I have enjoyed sharing this experience, and I hope it helps inspire some out-of-the-box learning programs in other startups. If you got here, let me know your thoughts on the A-Player program and any other competencies you believe Startups require for success.?

PS: The A-Player Model has also become a practical part of our recruitment strategy, but maybe that’s an essay for another day.?

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Diseye Amy Naasin SHRM-SCP is a Human Resource Lead at Eden Life Inc., with particular interests and expertise in building people structures, workforce planning and strategy, performance management, employee experience and talent management.?