B Players - The backbone of any organization

Introduction

Organizations are made up of people with different motivations, objectives, and personalities. These can be separated into three categories: A players, who are seen to be high achievers; B players, who are thought to be dependable and capable performers; and C players, who are considered to be the least skilled performers (Changing Minds, n.d.). The team in the workplace can be seen as an orchestra where each part plays its role in making a collective and perfect sound, and it is up to the manager to mix and balance all these categories to create the ideal sound. In this work, we are going to look into one or two reasons why managers should show more interest in their B players.

Importance of B Players

A and C players constitute up to 20% of an organization's workforce, while B players make up the remaining 80%, according to Delong & Vijayaraghavan (2003).? With this in mind, managers should have more interest in B players, as they are the backbone of the organization, without which the organization will collapse, and the go-to people. A players are the star performers and risk-takers making them prone to mistakes and missteps and they need B players as a backbone and a foundation to rely on for them to shine. B players offer some counterbalance to these ambitious A players, they offer stability as they form a great majority of the organization’s workforce, and they are the source of stability as they are reliable in times of crisis. B players may not have the same level of ambition as A players, but they play a crucial role in maintaining the day-to-day operations of the organization. Their consistency and reliability are essential for the overall success and sustainability of the company. A players are always in search of being noticed by leaders as they need promotion as this can be the way they get motivated. At the same time, they attract competitors and can leave an organization at any time. Adversely, B players have no time to waste in seeking attention to make self-brand, but they are more concentrated on accomplishing. They are more knowledgeable and wiser, especially former A players who have seen it all at that level thus becoming the go-to people in the organization. They know how A players act and can step up and bring assurance in times of crisis. B players can help in mentoring and supporting less experienced employees or low-performers; C players who need help due to their experience, stability, character, and ability to tell the truth when needed.

Due to their importance, managers need to learn how to keep them motivated and engaged and Fulling Management & Accounting (2023) suggests the following:

• Finding different ways to reward them compared to A players,
• Allocating equal time between B and A players through the monitoring of communication patterns to ensure B players are not ignored,
• Since most managers and leaders are A players, they tend to naturally relate better to similar team members in their organizations; but they need to accept the differences between themselves and the B players, take time to understand and appreciate the qualities that they bring,
• Developing creative options such as small monetary rewards and more lateral promotions, among others to keep B players engaged and motivated.

Conclusion

Knowing and understanding the role each player has in an organization can help leaders appreciate and motivate each of them for a better performance of the organization. Ignoring the role of B players in an organization can be detrimental to its survival as they are its backbone due to their stability and constitute its go-to working group based on its knowledge and wisdom. It is up to the leaders to combine and balance all the instruments in their hands.

References

Changing Minds. (n.d). Managing B-players. https://changingminds.org/disciplines/hr/performance_management/b-players.htm

DeLong, T. J. & Vijayaraghavan, V. Let’s Hear It for B Players. Harvard Business School. https://hbr.org/2003/06/lets-hear-it-for-b-players

Fulling Management & Accounting. (2023). The Importance of Motivating Your 'B Players'. https://www.fullingmgmt.com/blog/the-importance-of-motivating-your-b-players