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Recently in HR in Baseball Category
After July 31st, all players that teams attempt to trade must pass through waivers. If any of the other teams in baseball put a claim on the player, then the team must either remove the player from waivers (thus making him untradeable the remainder of the season), negotiate a trade with the team who claimed him, or let him go to another team with no compensation.
Manny Ramirez was claimed by the White Sox and the Dodgers gave him up in what could be called a "salary dump". Mike Napoli and Ted Lilly were claimed by the Red Sox and Yankees respectively, but their teams instantly removed them from waivers.
Sometimes the waiver wire is just used to gauge interest in another player by other teams. How can this be used in business? A good HR philosophy by a company would be to regularly have high level meetings between locations discussion potential talent, transfers of management, and potential for trading staff to fill gaps where needed. A company would be wise to hold these meetings on a regular basis (maybe twice or quarterly) to share what talent is available, offer talent who is interested in moving, and also share what talent may be available once the next meeting commences.
As a Yankee fan, I am excited for another season here in the Bronx. However, it saddens me to see what appears to be the dramatic decline of skills in the Captain, Derek Jeter. Some reports have blasted him for perennial hitting into a double play (one blog actually said he should change his uniform number to 63 because he always seems to hit into a 6-3 groundout).
Is it age? Is he injured? Or is it just that he happens to be in the right place at the wrong time? These are things many managers have to consider when one of their top performers suddenly declines in performance.
The key in business (and baseball) is to not rush to conclusions when someone who has consistently performed at a high level suddenly drops off. It is important to see what is going on in one's personal life, if there are new stressors at work, or if there are medical or other issues that need to be addressed.
As a fan, it's easy to jump all over Jeter (as my friends and I have in our Yankee discussions), but the important thing here is to look at the person's performance over time and see what adjustments can be made to make that person more comfortable and perform better.
Manny Ramirez has now worn out his welcome with two baseball teams - the Boston Red Sox in 2008 and now the Los Angeles Dodgers this year. However, the issue with Manny could have been averted years ago if the Red Sox took proper disciplinary action.
For years, Manny Ramirez altered between a powerful offensive force on the team to being a negative offender of clubhouse rules and playing field decorum. Until the Red Sox finally traded him, they didn't really make enough of an effort to nip his behavior in the bud or handle the issues as they came up.
Just as in the work place, if someone is a top performer but displays negative behavior towards the organization or to coworkers, not person or player is worth keeping around if they aren't playing on the team or working with others well. If people aren't dealt with early on, they feel like their behavior will be tolerated.
Next time you think someone on your team is just acting that way because they just have a case of "Manny being Manny", you need to ask yourself if this is behavior that can be changed or altered before you have to take drastic action to remove the person from your team or organization.
The Seattle Mariners recently fired their manager, pitching coach, bench coach, and performance coach about 2/3 of the way through an abysmal season. The management of the organization felt that a drastic change needed to take place to recharge a team that performed below expectations.
What seemed to be so drastic about this move was how many people lost their jobs in one quick cut. In most of the prior managerial moves in the past that occurred mid-season, generally only one coach or the manager has been let go and replaced on an interim-basis by someone else within the organization.
Depending on the source, the blame for the Mariners season is on how the clubhouse character was flawed and that several key players on the team had "quit" on the manager and his support staff.
In the business world, drastic change like this may have to take place as well if performance is not up to par, but rarely does a change involving the removal of several key managers take place all at one time. However, if a change like this did occur, you can believe those working for the managers who were let go would get the message that change needed to take place.
Curtis Granderson returned from the disabled list, and the Yankees needed to make a roster move. In his absence, Randy Winn, a regular before this year, and Kevin Russo, a converted infielder, often filled in in his place. Although the Yankees were paying Winn more money and he had more experience, Russo ended up staying with the team and Winn was let go.
Russo proved he could be more versatile and seemed to fit in with the team dynamic better, where Winn seemed to languish in his role as a reserve. Winn will likely end up with another team in an everyday or more regular role.
In business, we sometimes may have people who are more suited to one department over another. Often, when someone is out of work and needs to have people fill in for them. At these times, we often find hidden talents or hidden flaws in people in our organization. Sometimes, its best to test these people as much as possible before a need arises
John Sterling, Yankees announcer, often follows up a Robinson Cano home run with "Robbie Cano, Don't You Know?". Robbie has been a huge success this year, and partly because of a change in role, as well as a change in team chemistry.
Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera gave off the impression to fans of being best buds, and sometimes this seemed to make the team dynamic a little less than it could be. It appeared that sometimes Cano and Cabrera weren't giving 100%.
In the off-season, the Yankees traded Cabrera, and reports indicate that Cano is spending more time with older and more mature players. His role has changed as well; with the departure of 5th place hitter Hideki Matsui, Cano was given the opportunity to fill that spot in the lineup. His batting average is .400 and he has been exceptional in the field.
Often in business, sometimes changing the team dynamic by moving people around and changing there role is all it takes to make a person perform better. In this case, both have helped Robbie Cano reach his full potential.
Q: Where are the "bomb" jobs out there? How can I find one?
A: I've seen more and more people give up that search for the "bomb" (or perfect) job because they have realized that it really is more about being passionate about all that you do, and not relying solely on one source of income and workplace for your work pleasure.
More and more people are working a full-time job as well as freelancing. Many people (especially those in college) are working two part-time jobs or more for flexibility with their family and school life.
Relying too much on a job for your enjoyment may set you up for a big fall. Try more to focus on developing your skills as a leader and becoming a better you wherever you are. You may find that your "bomb" job may be that way for just a couple years, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't put in your best effort, or love the job anyway.
Johnny Damon, former left fielder for the New York Yankees, asked for 2 years for $20 million to return to the Yankees when he became a free agent (or, according to some reports, he asked for 3 years and $30 million). The Yankees countered with 2 years and $14 million, and once rebuffed, lowered that offer even more significantly.
Once the Yankees' offers were rebuffed, the Yankees made trades to replace Damon with talent that was younger, but not necessarily less expensive. Whether the Yankees would have made the moves regardless of Damon's negotiations is unknown; what is known is that Damon may have misjudged the market for his services.
For those of us outside of baseball, the same approach may cause disastrous results. If you want to stay with your company, despite a pay cut, refusing to settle for a fair amount may result in the offer being pulled completely. Certainly, there are other ways to approach the situation.
Andy Pettitte took a more effective approach that rewarded him handsomely. He waited until before Spring Training 2009 before signing an incentive-laden deal for the 2009 season. This deal ended up paying almost exactly what he made the year before. After 2009, he was rewarded with a guaranteed contract for 2010 for nearly the same amount he made with the incentive-based contract.
A good approach for situations where you may be facing a pay cut like Damon is to take the approach Pettitte did - look at ways you can earn incentives if your base pay has been cut (through sales goals, additional contributions to the company, etc). Looking outside of your organization may result in seeing a market that is not there, or alienate your employer alltogether.
In baseball, the Rule 5 draft allows teams to pick up players from other teams who have high potential but aren't getting the opportunity. Wikipedia states that " The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor league affiliate teams when other teams would be willing to have them play in the majors."
Smart organizations can use the Rule 5 draft premise in their company when they have several highly qualified managers-in-training or high potential employees in one location. Rather than keep all the high talent in one place, and organization can put in place a requirement to shift employees to new locations when they have reached a certain amount of service time. This will allow for the employees to grow in situations where seasoned professional staff isn't moving or being moved to new locations.
It's important to move high-potential employees around the company if they have reached a point where they can no longer grow where they are at. Companies who adopt this policy generally are those who are happy to allow this to happen, and who have managers who are willing to develop talent and see them move on to bigger and better things.
The hot stove league is my favorite part of the winter break between baseball seasons. This is the time where general managers for all teams meet to work out trades, free agents negotiate contracts with their own team (and then, after a certain date, with other team), and salaries (in some instances) are negotiated between teams and players through a form of salary arbitration.
Likewise, those new to organizations are tendered or non-tendered contracts, offered extensions, or released.
The offseason for business is also a good time to engage in your own "hot stove league". If you are a company with a season based business, or one with peaks and valleys, finding the right time of year to look at your staff and its divisions can be critical to seamless organizational transition.
By having dedicated times or seasons of the year to move around critical players in your organization, you can make all of your "teams" stronger while minimizing organizational stress.
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