The technique of management by differentiation is one of the most amazing techniques that has been elaborated by ‘Jack Welch’ in his book ‘Winning‘.

What is Differentiation? 

We have all heard of the terms like product differentiation and job differentiation, but the word ‘differentiation’ could not have been put to a better use. Job differentiation is one term in economics which has been used by corporates to identify the best of the talent suited for a particular set of profile. ‘Job differentiation’ has created a need for ‘specialization’ in a particular field of interest and has also made it mandatory for everybody to follow the latest trends in their field through Learning.

What is management by differentiation?

Jack Welch states that a good manager should have a keen insight into the basics of performance measurement. A good manager should know how to differentiate among his team members on the basis of their performance level.

He has given a rule of 20-70-10 which defines the differentiation of employees on the basis of their performance.

20 denote the top 20 percent employees who should be given top salaries and performance bonuses.

The second category denoted by the number 70 stands for the major chunk of the employees in the organization who are average performers and deliver average results.

The last 10% of the employees are the ones who cannot be considered as average performers also. They are the ones who cannot be made to fit into their profile even with the efforts of the top management in the form of training.

What is important in this whole scenario is the fact that this demarcation works only on the basis of a fair judgment on the behalf of the top management. Any sort of favoritism would work as a drawback for the organization and would create negativity in the organization.

Relating the Concept to ‘Go Put Your Strengths to Work’

Management by differentiation can be very well related to the thought given in the book ‘Go put your Strengths to work’. According to Gallup, managers with highly engaged teams have a strength called Individualization.

A manager who possesses this strength has an ability to differentiate amongst his team members and treats each one of them as an individual.

 

 

The book has wonderfully proved the fact that everybody should find their strengths and should let their strengths work for them. It has been mentioned that corporates should not look out for the weaknesses in their employees.

Rather, they should be more concerned about the strengths of an employee, and they should provide adequate training to enhance the strengths of their employees.

The same holds true for the 20, 70, 10 rule where a manager should make an effort to find out the strengths of his 70% employees and should motivate them to become more than average performers.

For the 10% employees the profile is definitely not suitable for the job, and they should be told about it in the beginning itself, so that they can make an effort to find their strengths and start working in that direction. They might be very well suitable for some other profile, but they should first look out for the means to find out their strengths.

The rule is that nobody is born without certain strengths and the only way to achieve success is to find the right direction. Most of us do not look at great opportunities because we are busy working on our weaknesses, but it is never too late to look at ourselves with a different perspective by putting our strengths to work.