Typical vs. Maximal Performance

  • If you were in the shoes of the business owner and had to choose which person would you hire (Avery or Jaime) and why?

If I was in the shoes of a business owner, I would hire Avery. Although Avery’s work performance is inconsistent, if I had a business-critical task that I needed someone on my team to get done, I would want to be confident in the quality of work and it sounds like with that extra push and challenge Avery would be able to rise to the occasion. Also, with having a high-performance ceiling, I’d imagine that Avery associate’s themselves with others who also have high-performance ceilings. I would leverage their network to hopefully find others that are more consistent and also are high performers to bring into my company.

  • Describe a type of job where it would be better to hire someone like Avery (i.e., high potential, poor consistency) than Jaime? What is it about that job that makes someone like Avery more valuable than Jaime?

I think Avery would thrive better in a job that doesn’t have the same routine day-to-day. The work is more ambiguous and dependent on their own efforts such as a sales job, or other commission-based roles. What makes Avery valuable is their ability to perform very highly occasionally, this in a way, can potentially allow employers to look past her slacking off if high potential is critical.

  • Describe a type of job where it would be better to hire someone like Jaime (i.e., low potential, high consistency) than Avery? What is it about that job that makes someone like Jaime more valuable?

Jaime would likely do better in an environment in which the work doesn’t vary much on day to day basis and the pay is based upon the work and not necessarily performance-based. They will come to work to get the job done, but won’t give much extra effort or put in extra hours if needed. A job like this may be an office type job, with very routine work. What makes Jamie valuable is the fact that they are extremely consistent, this makes for a dependable employee and someone that can be counted on for consistent results

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4 thoughts on “Typical vs. Maximal Performance”

  1. Hi Kayla,

    You make great points in the differences between Avery and Jamie. I agree that Avery would do very well in a sales position where their reward (in this case pay) is directly related to their performance. As we learned in lecture, this type of worker needs that extra motivation to help them overcome their typical level of performance in order to do their best work.

    Thanks for sharing!
    Courtney

  2. Hello Kayla,
    That was an interesting take on the assignment! I chose Jaime, because I would want someone that I could depend on for forecasting, team performance, etc. However, you made some great points regarding networking and the potential for Avery boosting the performance of those around here.
    Do you think it possible that Avery might negatively influence the people around her? For example, if she is a noted inconsistent performer, would those around her also begin to slack off, or do you think that they would rise to make up for Avery’s occasional lack?
    I also wondered about the extra motivation that Avery would need to perform well. That’s a lot of extra time and effort on the manager’s behalf, so I think it would depend on the payout. If it was for a mundane sort of task with low payoff, Avery might not be worth the effort; however, if the stakes are high, perhaps the extra focus and attention to help Avery be successful might prove to be a good investment.

    1. Abdulla,

      You make a great point about culture in the workplace. I definitely think that Avery could impact the culture in the workplace and negatively impact the consistency of work. If people see Avery getting paid the same for doing lower quality work, that may cause some issues. On the other hand, I would also hope that when she does perform highly this may motivate others to elevate their game as well.

  3. Kayla,
    That is interesting you and Isabel picked Avery over Jamie. This is interesting that people want talent over consistency. An avery’s case she only max performs a small percentage of the time while low perform a majority of the time. This is mind if you need to rely on her to max perform on certain tasks, that doesn’t guarantee that will happen if you start pushing her. People perform at the level that they want to perform. Consistency is more important versus unpredictability. If you are receiving supply shipments what would you want shipments that come every monday or the shipments that come possibly anytime exceling your expectations or below your expectations?
    Nice job on your posts you bring up good points!
    -kyle

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