Transcript - Episode 021 - The Battle-Axe and Plug-&-Play

Episode 021
The Battle-Axe and Plug-&-Play

You can listen HERE.

Have you ever had to recruit, and every candidate falls short? Because someone on the team was so amazing, that everyone else is just dull and lifeless compared to them? It happens to all of once we’ve spent a couple years in management. What’s really going on?

Hi, I’m Daava Mills, The Rebellious Recruiter. If you’ve been in management for ten years or more, you’ll inherently get what I am talking about in this episode. We’re talking about the person who is so natural at their job, they “wow” every single person they come in contact with.

Who are these people? Well, pull up a seat. Let’s chat.

Intro music.

Once a blue moon, a person is hired, and something special emerges. An employee that radically defines what “right” looks like. Their job performance is so surreal and proficient, they are basically a savant.

Years after they depart, people still talk about what they did right, and how they acutely shaped something important to the company. If you were a minstrel in the queen’s court, the musician would strum his harp and wax poetically about their life, their effect, and years later people would hear a beautiful story. But no one would believe it, until it happens to them.

We hear in hushed tones through the office as people relay to each other, “oh, she’s a computer whisperer” or “Send Tim in, he’ll get the customer on track.” If you’ve been lucky enough to hire one of these people, you might actually get stuck in what is called the contrast effect.

What is the contrast effect? First, while I teach it as part of review training… A “What not to do” part of training. This is one of those areas in which a google search will pull up countless studies over the past 50 years. Not on how employees do their job, but how we see them. One study even breaks this down into five propositions. These propositions state that contrast effects are most likely to occur when:

The target is average
The target is unfamiliar
The perceiver has enough cognitive resources
The context is homogeneous
The context is negative

Right, what the heck did I just say there? Okay, let me break this down with some personal context about a story that happened to me when I was in 8th or 9th grade, my grandmother was visiting. Let me give you a little information on my Nana. Nana was a southern woman, grew up poor, married a guy in the Navy. Got pregnant with her first born. She went to the ship one day to sign in and visit him, only to see that her name was already signed-in on the ship, visiting her husband. Yup, she married a cheater. This was 1950, and she did something very unheard of in those days. She left him. Met my grandfather, they fell in love, and he adopted her son. They had 7 more kids together.

Now, Nana, later in life earned the moniker “the General” from the gaggle of grandkids, most blood, but a handful that came into the family via marriages, she accepted and loved on all of her grandkids, blood or not. Sounds lovely and strong right? She was a cantankerous broad, didn’t take guff from anyone. I remember being in the commissary with her one day, as she was not happy with the quality of the grapes. If you have a military background, you know what I am talking about with the limits of commissary produce, especially if you served in the 80’s.

She was so upset about those grapes, I was shocked as she just marched through the doors into the employees-only area, and started yelling for Ramone, the produce manager. I’m a rules follower, I would never break a rule like that. I swear, if she could have led him out by his ear, she would have. Ramone was now a mere subject in the court of Nana. Five minutes later, better grapes were brought out. All of us grandkids were fully aware of her ruthlessness, as we got older, we rolled with it. But when we were younger, she was downright scary.

So, when she was visiting when I was around 14 or so, I had brought home my report card. Good report card. Mostly A’s, a couple B’s. She sat there across the table from me. I don’t know what happened in that moment, but suddenly I was being lectured on how a cousin of mine, who had trouble in school, worked hard, and got straight B’s. Like… what just happened? The contrast effect.

You see, something in my cousin’s nature triggered her. Not triggered in that overblown sense you see flying around social media these days. But triggered her into conversation. Suddenly, my efforts ceased to matter, because in her mind my cousin worked harder, and she expected me to work harder, and be like him.

I know, you might be listening right now and going “What is the point here Daava?” Bear with me, we’re getting there. Remember those five propositions I just stated?

The target is average. I was the target. Yep, she considered my effort to be average.
The target is unfamiliar. My family was the only family within her brood that didn’t live within an hour of her. She didn’t have the luxury of us just dropping in on her unannounced, or visa versa. All visits were planned, and somewhat curated.
The perceiver has enough cognitive resources. In that moment, the information she was supplied with gave her the idea I wasn’t trying hard enough, and she was attempting to compare apples to apples.
The context is homogenous. Homogenous, meaning similar. My cousin I was compared to was about the same age as me, one grade behind me.
The context is negative. Being compared to my cousin, who had lower grades. Nana was comparing my effort to my cousin’s effort.

Now, here’s my context. He went to public school; I was in private school. My schooling wasn’t any better, but it was certainly different. She wasn’t comparing apples to apples.

We’re gonna slowly creep our way back to those savants we work with.

In two decades plus of recruiting, I’ve had two special types of people show up. They are rare, so rare that it’s easy as managers to hold everyone else in those positions accountable to how well they have done.

They are what I like to call “The Battle-Axe” and the “Plug-and-Play.” These two types of people go to work because work is where they are self-actualized. You know, the top of the Maslow chart. Coming to work, and helping your company make money? For them, it’s the equivalent of going to church and being filled with the Holy-Ghost! The tongues they speak in leave you in awe of what they just did, slightly bewildered. They lay their hands on something, and it magically works. We stand in awe of their talent.

Please note, you will never ever ever recognize that these people are what they are in the interview. So, it’s pointless to go looking for these people. Just learn to recognize it once it’s on board.

So, the battle-axe. Merriam-Webster has two definitions, the second describes it as an older woman who is sharp-tongued, domineering, or combative. Sounds like my Nana, right? That’s not the definition I am going for here. Look at a battle-axe. It has no moving parts. You can use it as an axe, but it’s way more effective as a weapon. You keep it sharp. It slices, it can shield you if it’s large enough, it can be a blunt force object, it extends your reach, and it’s simple to maintain. Highly effective when you need it. You can’t deploy it for everything, but when that moment comes, it’s sharpened and it’s trusty. It does a couple things really well, and it works when you find yourself in a pinch.

So, who is this person? In almost a 30-year career, I’ve come across this person twice in a receptionist role. A handful of welders I’ve worked with, they could do both mirror welding and copper nickel tig welding and had dozens of certifications. Yeah, we kept them around. One recruiter, she was the second highest biller in the office, working about 4 hours a day. The list goes on a bit, but it’s not long. The fact remains, they are rare. These people geek out on their job. Like, totally geek out. This is the paint inspector that gets excited watching paint dry, literally, they speak the language of paint. This person will talk about their job and you look at them mystified that someone enjoys that. And a weird smile crosses your face as you tilt your head to the side, like a dog when it’s unsure of what is happening in that moment.

As a manager, this becomes the person you call on when you need something expertly done, because you know they will do it right. You might have tried them on in other positions, they tried hard, but they weren’t very good. Most importantly, a Battle-Axe knows their limits. They know what they are good at. They can describe why something works in their field. They might be qualified for something else and do a competent job. They will always come back to the well that feeds their spirit.

These people are held in such high regard, that others looking in see it and make the exclamation that “if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” And if you’ve listed to any of my other podcasts, like Episode 018, you know I believe that people who perform their job well and are respectful of their co-workers, customers and vendors, should not be held accountable to LOVING their job.

Why are we contrasting and comparing the spiritual fulfillment of one person to the person who took the job, and does it very well, because this job affords them the right schedule to coach their child’s little league team? That’s unfair to both people. It’s unfair to your “Battle-Axe” because they want to help you raise your business, they don’t want their skill set to suddenly be the point of contention, and people shy away from them. Or worse, what if your staff goes to your Battle-Axe and asks them to tone down their behavior so they can look better. And it’s unfair to your other employees, because you created an unobtainable expectation. You are expecting them to redefine their spiritual alignment for your gain. Pretty ridiculous expectation, if you ask me.

Instead of using the contrast effect on your staff, that Battle-Axe, they have tricks up their sleeve. Have them write out problem solving SOPs or do some micro-training for your team. Meaning a 15-minute how-to on a specific job aspect or task. If they suck at documentation, get an admin over to their desk to take notes on what they do and put it into a nicely formatted document for everyone to refer to.

Remember, the battle isn’t won with just Battle-Axes. And this person has a highly refined, yet limited skill set.

Which leads us to the other person who you may have encountered once in your career, maybe twice. They are the inverse of the Battle-Axe; they are the Plug-&-Play. Again, you won’t identify this special spark in interviews. You’ll see it develop over time. A lot of people when I describe this phenomenon, think they fit this category, but they don’t. A true Plug-&-Play would never have the ego to automatically assume it’s them. Humility is the hallmark of this person. Yes, they will tell where they are competent, but they would never be so bold as to take credit for what they are about to do for your business, because they have the power of the team.

The Plug-&-Play is just that… you plug them into a roll, and they just get it. These people are driven by an insatiable curiosity, they hydrate by getting answers to their questions. They have an ability to dial in on departmental issues, and they are great managers, and great at deploying their team’s talent in a way that is shockingly brilliant. When you stumble into a Plug-&-Play, you’ll know in about six months. They didn’t rise into management, because they like to manage. They rose into management because it was the fastest way to positively affect your company.

They are master communicators. Levelheaded. Creative. Cunning. They often don’t want to run their own business. They have a deep desire to solve problems. Remember the analogy from the episode C.L.A.M.S.? These are often the challenge people, in extreme form. In real life, it would not be unusual if they have ADHD. The right form of ADHD can allow their brain to move at a quicker pace, the ability to hyper focus, and many people with ADHD are super likable and engaging. In any case, this person becomes the wrangler for you. They can take your bad news and make it fun for the team to overcome. They know how to celebrate wins!

They understand that systems, which they often create to keep themselves on track, benefits the team. Their insatiable curiosity allows them the ability to communicate effectively with their staff, and cross departmentally, because they dive into root issues, AND they make the person they are speaking with feel important about what they do. This person will never place their skill set above anyone else, because they are humble, and they want to solve a problem. When the storm has passed, and processes are reinforced, and you’re ready for the next storm… they’ll likely move on since they’ve mastered your environment. Don’t worry about that.

If you’ve been deploying the C.L.A.M.S. philosophy, they’ve most likely downloaded everything into their team, and figured out a strategy for moving forward. A Plug-&-Play won’t leave you in the lurch. Maybe your advancement team member is ready to move up. That will be the last thing your Plug-&-Play does before moving on, they will ensure someone is ready to take over. There is a plan.

You need to understand how rare this person is, and the contrast effect, doesn’t come into play, because this individual is bit other-worldly. The Plug-&-Plays often have a network of managers and C-Suite execs they have previously worked with, these execs sing their praises all day long, and don’t mind giving you the scoop on what to expect. When you stumble into this person, because you are more likely to stumble into this person, answer their questions, step back, and let them loose.

In real life I’ve come across this person twice. And… I’ve heard one speak. If you have the chance to find any talks by Alan Mulally, he is the poster child for the Plug-&-Play. I don’t believe he has ADHD though. Take the time to understand how he left Boeing, as the COO, and was recruited to Ford as the CEO. He was recruited, because those C-Suite people know each other. His solutions were simple, effective, motivational, and he left when his job was done.

So, in short:

When you hire a Battle-Axe, use them to help you create SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and to give tips to your team on daily tasks and objectives
Never compare your staff to the Battle-Axe
If you ever stumble into a Plug-&-Play, tell them the end goal and let them do their thing
Plug-&-Plays have rippling effects that positively affect your business for years
Battle-Axes are rare
Plug-&-Plays are songs of minstrels that become legends in the Queen’s court

As always, I’ll be bringing you new information weekly. Be sure to subscribe wherever you are listening to this. Feel free to comment, rate, and review what you hear. Share this podcast with other leaders that may be building “out of this world teams.” You can email me with your thoughts or questions. I may use your subject matter in upcoming shows.

It’s great to meet you and thank you for listening. I know you only have so many hours in the week, and I am grateful to spend this time with you. Until then, make it a great day! See you on the flip side.