Few People Generate Half of Results

Referring to this great blog post from Darious Foroux (https://dariusforoux.com/prices-law/)

Have you also observed this?

Wherever you go, there seems to be a pattern that few people generate most of the results.

Derek Price put this into a simple-to-remember model:

50% of the work is done by the square root of the total number of people who participate in the work.

So, in a team of 16, we might observe that 4 people end up generating 50% or more of the results.

It is very similar to the 80/20 principle.

I quite a agree with Darius Foroux in his post, that we can make use of this general observation to ask ourselves a tough question:

“Are we in a position where we actually can create substantial value? If the answer is no, why not think about moving on to a different place where we can do something we are really good at?”

The implication for us as Leader Coaches?

This easy mental model allows us to ask some targeted questions to team members, especially if we observe a wide results variance in our team:

What type of work would allow you to create substantial value?

What would it take for you to mostly do something you are really good at?

StrengthsFinder can work wonders to help team members make a head start on that.

However, what matters most again is the Coaching Mindset of the Leader. These questions only unfold their power when we go into the conversation actually believing that there IS a role and environment for the person in front of me to unlock substantial value.

What if we don’t believe in it? In this case, it is more useful to understand where that feeling of distrust originates. If we cannot unlock and activate the coaching mindset in us, we should accept that and understand first what the source of our distrust is.

Best, Maik