Thanks for that, it is a good read. My first manager at Sun used to say "there are no bad employees, just bad fits." and over the years I've seen the wisdom of that. I have been guilty of labeling someone as being a 'B' player only to see that person excel in a different environment later. The risk for younger engineers and people who don't know this is to make bad decisions about joining or hiring or leaving a situation. As a manager I've used it sometimes as a rationalization, knowing that by letting someone go they were going to have an opportunity to find a better match for their personality, but it doesn't "good" knowing you're giving someone that opportunity. It feels like you failed them.
When I interview folks I try to get a sense of what makes them excited to get up in the morning. Do they like solitude? (not good in a open plan office) Do they like to try lots of things in rapid succession? Are they people that like to bend existing things to their will or people who want to create something beautiful from whole cloth? If you can figure out the thing that energizes them and provide it, you will get great results from them.
What should one do if they feel like they are in a B position? How does one know if it is the environment that needs to change, or something one needs to learn and grow about oneself?
I don't think there is one answer to that question. Over the years I've suggested people follow their passions because my observation was that people working on something they were passionate about, were good at it. While I stand by that advice, I've also observed times where people were passionately working at something, poorly. Which is to say they had the energy but not the mental discipline associated with growth in skill and expertise.
As the author explained in his post, being a B player can have roots deep inside your head, in Daniel's case, "It turns out that I don’t operate at my full potential when I believe someone else will find and fix my mistakes. I play better without a safety net. I also have a burning need to work on stuff that I feel I own completely."
I'm not sure how to trigger self reflection in others, I grew up doing it and thought it was something everyone did until I met lots and lots of people who never asked themselves "Why did I respond that way?" or "Where did that come from?".
In Daniel's quote, and in my own makeup, ownership is a big deal. Even something as simple as loading the dishwasher is demotivating to me if my wife insists I load it "like she would." So for me if I'm not doing well I ask "Am I not taking ownership here of this outcome?" And if the answer is yes I need to figure out if its because I've tried and been rebuffed (suggests changing jobs) or I've not really tried (suggests changing my own behavior). I recognize though that what works for me is probably useless for others.
I'm not sure how to trigger self reflection in others, I grew up doing it and thought it was something everyone did until I met lots and lots of people who never asked themselves "Why did I respond that way?" or "Where did that come from?".
This is called "metacognition" in educator circles, and it can make a big difference in how people react to different situations. The skill to evaluate and monitor your own thinking is something that many people never learn. See e.g. http://www.etc.edu.cn/eet/Articles/metacognition/start.htm
From my experience, it's almost always both. There are things about the environment and work nature that are not conducive to the said person - thereby not allowing said person to function optimally.
Most times there are some things under the individual's control. Examples: Being more explicit with the manager about the kind of work that one would like to do, coming in an hour earlier (and leaving an hour earlier) to get some solitude in the mornings in an open floor plan, blocking calendars to disallow meetings at one's most productive time, etc..
But having said that, most relationships quickly become toxic when too many things start to fail. One is never sure if it is just oneself or the environment, if a certain action is just the boss having a bad day or part of a larger corporate thought process. At this stage, one is left with no choice to leave.
The best advice I can give is to take an extended vacation (10+ days) at such a point. Clarity often strikes when the immediacy of the problems are no longer at hand.
When I interview folks I try to get a sense of what makes them excited to get up in the morning. Do they like solitude? (not good in a open plan office) Do they like to try lots of things in rapid succession? Are they people that like to bend existing things to their will or people who want to create something beautiful from whole cloth? If you can figure out the thing that energizes them and provide it, you will get great results from them.