He’s abrasive, curt, stubborn and condescending to everyone he works with. But when it comes to exceeding all performance goals on time and coming in under budget, he’s a golden boy who you really want to keep.
The problem is: His red-hot results come at the expense of his chilling the morale and enthusiasm of others on the team. Progress is grinding to a halt.
His enthusiastic ideas and egotistical comments are met with squirming and pointed silence at team meetings. There are distracted glances only one step removed from eyeballs rolling heavenward and rather than respond to his ideas, someone always tries to change the subject. At follow-ups, no one seems to remember what your golden boy said. It’s like he doesn’t exist. They’re freezing him out.
It’s a dilemma facing an increasing number of managers as organizations bring in fresh talent to rev-up performance after the economic downturn. Leaders hesitate to dampen the enthusiasm of disruptive star players, for fear that it may see them leap to the competition.
However, left unchecked, that temperament and ego of your star player can bring the entire organization to a grinding halt, warns Celese Fletcher, principal at Toronto-based human resources firm the Fletcher Consultancy, that specializes in re-establishing communications links between employees and managers.
Difficult high performers are invariably proud of their accomplishments and positive about the organization they work for, she finds. And they are most often shocked to know that their contributions are not being well received by others.
That’s where they can benefit from some social skills coaching by an aware manager, she adds. “Some difficult high performers will struggle with this all their life, because they don’t have the natural empathy to pick up on the cues others are giving them.”
Difficult high performers are frequently short of people skills and may show little patience for others who don’t understand their point of view. Because of that, managers who have an initial talk with a difficult high performer may find that nothing changes.
What then?
Purists would say that to preserve an orderly corporate culture, such abusive high performing folks should be treated as performance problems and be disciplined and perhaps eventually terminated, no matter what their numbers are, observes John Swain, a partner at management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, in Toronto. “But such an approach risks competitors picking up your high performer,” Mr. Swain says, “and of course, it risks performance falling off for your company at least temporarily.”
Ms. Fletcher recommends that alert managers stay ahead of the situation by sitting down separately with each team member together with the difficult performer and “reintroduce the relationship.” By getting them to discuss their mutual roles and dependence on each other for the success of the organization, there will be more understanding and less friction.
“Refocus them on what their individual roles and responsibilities are,” and schedule follow-ups, because it will take them time to transition out of their inflated headspace, Ms. Fletcher recommends.
The mediating role of the manager is critical, Ms. Fletcher states, because “even if you’ve got all these brilliant people, it’s up to the middle manager to connect everything, to coach your people, to interpret the overall company vision and what it means to their area.”
Otherwise, you don’t get liftoff – you end up with islands of difficult performers that increasingly become isolated and it means you try harder and harder to work things out – and it just doesn’t.
However, in her experience, high performers are worth the effort required to tame them. “Difficult high performers have excellent prospects of becoming senior managers as they mature, if they are fortunate enough to get some good coaches along the way,” Ms. Fletcher concludes.
______
REFORMING THE DIFFICULT EMPLOYEE
Lay out expectations
No matter how red hot the person’s performance is, you need to be clear that their disruptive attitude won’t be tolerated.
Provide clear examples
The employee may very well be so self-absorbed that they are not aware of how they are affecting others. Pointing out specific observations of issues they are creating, preferably immediately after they occur.
Accept their viewpoint
High performers have difficulty absorbing the fact that others see them differently. Acknowledge their individual contribution, but lay out why continuing to behave as they do is impacting the team’s overall performance and will ultimately erode their reputation within the organization.
Provide coaching
Provide positive examples of successful social skills, encourage even modest successes. Be quick to praise improvements in behaviour.
Reintroduce relationships
Meet informally with the problem employee and just one other team member at a time, preferably outside of the office, over a meal or drink. Allow the pair to engage in some dialogue about their own understanding of their mutual roles. Make it clear that you want them both to succeed as a team. End on a friendly note.
Follow up
Monitor your golden boy’s progress with regular checkups.
Special to The Globe and Mail
