Addressing performance disparities among your staff can be one of the most challenging tasks managers face. As I work with shops, I find myself confronted with misconceptions regarding these disparities. The most intriguing is something I’ve decided to label as the B-Team Fallacy.

What is the B-Team Fallacy? It’s a belief that some solutions and tools are only required for under performers (B-Team) so they may attain to the same level as our top performers (A-Team). This fallacy can result in preventing meaningful self-improvements for all.

Due to the nature of my work, I see the B-Team Fallacy most commonly when onboarding an established business that is adopting texting and DVI. It applies perfectly to technician or service advisor training.

I find the following at the root of the misconceptions:

• Shop owners/managers who are afraid to make requests from their best people..
• “A-Team” staffers who believe they are as good as they can get.
• Multi-shop-operators who merely want their other stores to be “as good” as their main location.

All of them fail to make perpetual self-improvement a priority and are asking too little of themselves or their teams.

Self-improvement involves more than just tools or training…it begins with desire.