“Okay,” Roger continued. “I have seventeen salespeople and I charted each one. First, I made a judgment, based on my expectations in the role, and taking into account all the factors I know they are up against in the market, observing their behavior, watching their habits, getting feedback from the people they encounter. The judgment was simple. I judged whether they were as effective as someone in the top half of the role or the bottom half, and then in that half, whether they were in the top, middle or bottom.”

“I see you drew a picture,” I nodded. “Horizontal lines across the page, representing the six bands of effectiveness, and then a small circle for each of your salespeople.”

“Visually, it makes it easy to see the difference in effectiveness,” Roger explained. “And yet, there is enough detail to cover the nuances. Six grades of effectiveness is enough to let me see my sales team as a whole, where I have strength and where I have weakness.”

“As a manager, does this analysis give you insights on what moves to make?”