It’s a number game, after all.

Steven covey gave us the four quadrants of Time Management. It’s an amazing tool that reminds us that we need to work on “Result building Capabilities” more than on meeting deadlines and fighting crises. The more time we spent in quadrant 2, our life will be more effective.

I have something similar to you today. It’s a number game. All we need to do is count from 1 to 4 and use these numbers to categorize the most common types of associates whom we come across at work nowadays.

Number 1 represents people who are willing to work and are also able to work… They are very visible to everyone, involved in all major projects, always showing initiative, Learning, Sharing, Volunteering. They are the obvious Champions.

Number 2 represents people who are willing to do but are unable to, due to lack of experience, knowledge or skills. They are always willing to volunteer, observe, learn, accept feedback and improve. They are the future Champions of the Organization.

Number 3 represents people who are able to do, but are not willing to. They could be disgruntled staff that has overstayed. People with a lot of sad and demotivating tales to say. They could also be in a state of inertia, having worked under an authoritarian boss, or having been pushed into doing uninteresting mundane jobs.

Number 4 represents people who are neither able or willing. They are not ready to learn or do. It beats me why they come to work in the first place.

So how does one deal with them.

Number 1: Empower, Reward, Delegate, Use them as mentors
Number 2: Train them, Delegate selectively, keep a close watch, motivate.
Number 3: Give them feedback, find root causes of non performance, find ways to use them, move them around, be directive.
Number 4: Give them the message: Shape up or Ship Out

Let’s also ask ourselves…. Which category do we belong to?