Talent Management - October 2008 - (Page 38)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & beneﬁts performance management learning & development succession planning [learning & development] by Susan Kushnir Managing the Star Performer No One Wants to Work With Almost every organization has a rock star, an employee whose skills and productivity far exceed those of his peers. But if his interpersonal skills don’t mirror his work prowess, he may be more of a liability than an asset. ehold the star performers! Able to surpass goals without breaking a sweat, quick to grasp new organizational missions, brighter than 90 percent of their colleagues, these special employees are technically superior to, well, even their superiors. But like most superheroes, star performers may have a dark side. What if the best, fastest employee has a few quirks that set the rest of the team on edge? Is it worth poisoning a culture to retain an employee whose behavior isn’t consistent with the organization’s values? And if a star performer is truly outperforming his or her peers, how can the talent manager justify redirecting his or her behavior? Tiziana Casciaro and Miguel Sousa Lobo — authors of the Harvard Business School study “Competent Jerks, Lovable Fools, and the Formation of Social Networks” — said people who like each other typically share similar values and ways of thinking, making it difﬁcult to generate fresh ideas. Further, most individuals avoid skilled but unpleasant colleagues, leaving competent jerks’ expertise untapped. The authors contend most employees would rather work with someone less competent because that person may be more pleasant, more open to other’s ideas and more willing to share their own. They may even be perceived as more trustworthy. Talent leaders might consider the following tips to help solve star-performer issues: Hold employees accountable for what they do and how they do it. Rick Lepsinger, president of OnPoint Consulting, understands ﬁrsthand how difﬁcult dealing with star performers can be. Ed* generated nearly triple the revenue of his peers but treated people badly. Lepsinger was hesitant to address this issue because of Ed’s performance. But not acting sooner was a mistake because Ed was a gossiper who damaged morale and other employees’ productivity. “ soon as I became aware of the behavior and its impact As I should have told Ed, ‘I love your work, but your treatment of others is not how we do things around here. Your behavior needs to change immediately,’” Lepsinger said. How employees treat one another is as important as their revenue-generating ability. Lepsinger said the key to managing employees like Ed who are top producers but who poison the team culture is consistency and holding them accountable for their behaviors, as well as their performance targets. “Managers must be willing to risk losing the employee,” he explained. “To not hold everyone accountable for their behavior undermines the company’s values and turns them into meaningless platitudes.” Recognize team performance, not just star performance. Top performers often get recognition that can overshadow the hard work of others who supported them. To address this, develop a team-based performance-recognition system. B 38 October 2008 *Some names and details have been changed to protect anonymity. talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - October 2008

Talent Management - October 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Foundations The Three Pillars of Executive On-Boarding Role-Based Assessment: Thinking Inside the Box Who's Going to Speak Up for Health Care? Obey the Push to Automate Managing the Star Performer No One Wants to Work With Adopting a Mutual-Funds Model for Talent Management Hewlett-Packard: Simple Talent Management in a Technical World Team Effort Pays in Talent at London Business School The Employee Survey: What’s in It for Me? Why Most Managers Are Stuck Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - October 2008

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