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How to Build a Team of All A-Players with Rick Crossland

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Manage episode 496041598 series 1128893
Content provided by Bill Gallagher. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Bill Gallagher or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

What if 90% of your team were high-performers, and your revenue tripled?

In this episode, Bill is joined by Rick Crossland to break down what it really takes to build a high-performance team. Rick shares his system for recruiting, coaching, and retaining A players who consistently outperform their peers and elevate your entire organization. From hiring secrets to accountability culture to a powerful new tool for talent evaluation, this conversation is packed with ways to truly cultivate an extraordinary team.

Rick Crossland is a talent expert, the founder of A Player Advantage and the author of The A Player: The Definitive Playbook. He’s worked with brands like Johnson & Johnson, Ford, and Lifesavers, and now helps companies of all sizes build talent-dense organizations using proven systems and playbooks.

Topics explored in this episode:

(10:05) How to Test for Coachability

  • Why hypotheticals don’t work
  • Using real-life stories and hobbies to find the truth for ‘true’ coachability
  • The red flags of performative coachability

(18:00) How to Move to an All A Player Team

  • A normal business typically has only about 30% A Players.
  • How clear roles, accountability, and merit-based playbooks outperform “relational management”
  • Stop tolerating C players—they demoralize your top talent

(27:00) Can You Replace People with AI?

  • Can you use AI to enhance your team and your people’s performance?
  • Why top grading alone isn’t enough; you need a system and great recruiters

(33:15) The A Player Talent Analyzer

  • How to measure A player percentage accurately
  • Monthly evaluation: effort, results, and coaching logs
  • Why 50% of Bs can become As—but only if they want to

(44:30) Purpose Magnets and Coin-Operated Players

  • Why end-user-focused purpose matters most
  • How purpose-driven teams outperform paycheck-driven ones
  • Aligning personal purpose with company mission

Thanks to Rick Crossland for being on the show!

Learn more at: https://aplayeradvantage.com/

Get the book: The A Player

Connect with Rick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickcrossland/

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the Scaling Up Business podcast, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Join Bill in the Growth Navigator Coaching Program: https://ScalingCoach.com/workshop

Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/BillGall

Bill on YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/@BillGallagherScalingCoach

Visit https://ScalingUp.com to learn more about Verne Harnish, our team of Scaling Up Coaches, and the Scaling Up Performance Platform, which includes coaching, learning, software, and summit. We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around people, strategy, execution, and cash so that they can scale up successfully and beat the odds of business growth.

Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Subscribe via Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3PGhWPJ

Subscribe via Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3PKe00u

Bill on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/billgall/

Bill on Twitter/X: https://x.com/billgall

  continue reading

644 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 496041598 series 1128893
Content provided by Bill Gallagher. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Bill Gallagher or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

What if 90% of your team were high-performers, and your revenue tripled?

In this episode, Bill is joined by Rick Crossland to break down what it really takes to build a high-performance team. Rick shares his system for recruiting, coaching, and retaining A players who consistently outperform their peers and elevate your entire organization. From hiring secrets to accountability culture to a powerful new tool for talent evaluation, this conversation is packed with ways to truly cultivate an extraordinary team.

Rick Crossland is a talent expert, the founder of A Player Advantage and the author of The A Player: The Definitive Playbook. He’s worked with brands like Johnson & Johnson, Ford, and Lifesavers, and now helps companies of all sizes build talent-dense organizations using proven systems and playbooks.

Topics explored in this episode:

(10:05) How to Test for Coachability

  • Why hypotheticals don’t work
  • Using real-life stories and hobbies to find the truth for ‘true’ coachability
  • The red flags of performative coachability

(18:00) How to Move to an All A Player Team

  • A normal business typically has only about 30% A Players.
  • How clear roles, accountability, and merit-based playbooks outperform “relational management”
  • Stop tolerating C players—they demoralize your top talent

(27:00) Can You Replace People with AI?

  • Can you use AI to enhance your team and your people’s performance?
  • Why top grading alone isn’t enough; you need a system and great recruiters

(33:15) The A Player Talent Analyzer

  • How to measure A player percentage accurately
  • Monthly evaluation: effort, results, and coaching logs
  • Why 50% of Bs can become As—but only if they want to

(44:30) Purpose Magnets and Coin-Operated Players

  • Why end-user-focused purpose matters most
  • How purpose-driven teams outperform paycheck-driven ones
  • Aligning personal purpose with company mission

Thanks to Rick Crossland for being on the show!

Learn more at: https://aplayeradvantage.com/

Get the book: The A Player

Connect with Rick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickcrossland/

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the Scaling Up Business podcast, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Join Bill in the Growth Navigator Coaching Program: https://ScalingCoach.com/workshop

Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/BillGall

Bill on YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/@BillGallagherScalingCoach

Visit https://ScalingUp.com to learn more about Verne Harnish, our team of Scaling Up Coaches, and the Scaling Up Performance Platform, which includes coaching, learning, software, and summit. We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around people, strategy, execution, and cash so that they can scale up successfully and beat the odds of business growth.

Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Subscribe via Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3PGhWPJ

Subscribe via Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3PKe00u

Bill on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/billgall/

Bill on Twitter/X: https://x.com/billgall

  continue reading

644 episodes

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