At work you meet all kinds of people. When you choose teammates or hire someone new, what standard should you use? I also wanted to know which stage I was in. Kim Young-jin's book Everyone's Business: From a one-person company to a hundred-person company lays this out clearly, so I want to share it.
The five stages of talent
Stage 1: I am here for the money.
If you ask "Why do you work here?" and the answer is "For the money," this is the stage. There is not yet a sense of belonging. Once people at stage 1 can support themselves, they naturally start looking for stage 2.
Stage 2: The work is hard, but I stay because of the people.
"The work is hard, but I stay because of the people." That is the most common line at stage 2. People need to feel they belong in a group before they can keep working. Belonging is another way of saying the need to be recognized. People at this stage are caught up in being recognized and belonging, so they get absorbed in relationships rather than the work itself. They handle incoming work based on who asked, not on priority. If you pair them with someone at stage 3 or above as a senior, they can start to belong and grow into stage 3.
Stage 3: I stay because I am good.
Once people earn money, get recognition, and feel they belong, they start to see themselves as the one doing the work. Most bosses want staff at stage 3 or above. "They do the work well, but they have no sense." Many owners suffer because of stage 3 staff. People at this stage know the company needs them, so they become proud. They start to own more work independently and they do produce results. Because they think they did it alone, they do not trust colleagues much. Their language is full of "I": "I am fine," "That was my mistake," "That was my result," "I like this." People at stages 1 and 2 rarely assert themselves. They follow the room. As stage 3 people start to see the whole of the work, they begin growing into stage 4. The most effective way from 3 to 4 is to give them people at stages 1 and 2 as juniors. Teaching someone less experienced makes them look at themselves. Their own skill rises while they teach. Helping someone else grow gives a different kind of satisfaction from results you made alone. Once they learn how to include people who are less capable than they are, they move into stage 4.
Stage 4: I stay because we are good.
People at stage 4 have worked across departments or across a wider range of work. They realize that if we make more, our value rises too. Their language slowly changes from "I" to "we." Credit goes to us; blame comes back to me. If stage 3 people hoard information and try to stay ahead of colleagues, stage 4 people share information and grow other people so the team becomes stronger.
Stage 5: Because this is my work.
Self-actualization. At stage 5, people can simply do the work. After many successes and failures, they start to see that all of it became material for their own growth. Whether the work is hard or easy, they do it as they always have. It is their work and their life. They do not work because the company told them to. They work from their own reason. The reason for doing this, and the reason for choosing this job, sit inside them. They find the cause of things in themselves.
Which stage are you in?
#HOWBIM, #five stages of talent, #Kim Young-jin