Managing Talent that doesn’t fit between the lines

One of the most interesting management insights I’ve read in a while.

I have a staff member who produces brilliant work but is consistently late every single day. I can’t fire him because it will take months…

Dushka Zapata’s answer: I once hired a woman who did brilliant work but was not a good team player. It’s not that she was destructive or hostile. It was more that, in an industry that typically thrives on collaboration, she was an independent contributor. Another employee was always late. I fel…

the key insight being

People who deliver brilliant work are hard to come by.
It’s our job as managers to make our business environment flexible enough to give  every brilliant employee a place to thrive.

I absolutely loved this!

All too often, I find that managers (especially middle managers) are concerned with bringing employees “in line” and getting them to conform to the system, instead of figuring out how to help them do their best work. I imagine following the approach outlined in the article is much easier said than done though.

PS: I bet it would make a very interesting interview question for a management position.