The Amp It Up Fieldbook

6Hire Drivers, Not Passengers, and Get the Wrong People Off the Bus

Once you have raised your standards, you need to objectively evaluate your people. You will be relying on them to execute the changes you are making, so they must be able to adopt an “Amp It Up” approach to their work. The people who are most prepared to do this are drivers. Passengers are the people who are satisfied being carried along but do little to contribute to the organization's momentum. Leaders need to do three things to effectively manage their workforce: get rid of passengers, place people in the right roles, and actively recruit drivers.

The following activities will help you identify passengers, cultivate drivers, and develop a plan to staff your organization over the long term.

DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS

Most people act like drivers some of the time and at other times like passengers. This can make it hard to put people into categories, even when evaluating ourselves. This activity can be useful to assess yourself and your team. To determine if you are more driver or passenger, consider the following statements and determine whether you are more likely to agree with response A or response B.

Statement	A	B
When facing a new and challenging project, I am most likely to:	Feel excited to get started and push through the difficult areas, even if I step on some toes along the way.	Look for potential pitfalls and adjust the process or goals to make it easier for everyone.
My style of goal ...