It starts with a good job description, which leads to good hiring. The description goes on to become a job plan, outlining the traits you're looking for in the new hire, along with the kind of performance you expect. Use such a plan to guide new employees in the roles they've taken on, and to make sure their work lives up to your expectations. If your new car delivers 12mpg when the spec shows 25mpg, you take it back to the dealer for tuning. Match task to talent Subpar performance often stems simply from giving someone the wrong kind of work.
Some people turn out to be brilliant testers, detail workers, planners, writers or even managers.
But chances are they weren't doing that particular job when you realized where their talents lay. So make sure all your oval pegs are in oval holes. You have to guard against getting your back up as a manager and insisting that people do what you've told them to do-despite the fact that they're having trouble because you gave them the wrong task in the first place. Then there's your corporate culture. Some companies take the extreme approach of leaving people to volunteer for particular project roles.