The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Attitude flaws limit star performers’ achievement

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Attitude flaws limit star performers’ achievement

Star performers occupy a place of pride in any organisation and the management is only too happy to have them on board. After all these are the people who get more work done in a day than what others do in a week. Though these employees display exceptional brilliance in their work, like all human beings they have their share of imperfections too. Sometimes these imperfections are so imposing that they prove to be the professional undoing of these people. Far too often peop le with amazing talent fail because of a single seemingly fatal personality flaw.

An attitudinal flaw could be anything that takes a toll on the efficiency of the person ranging from work alcoholism to pessimism. For example, one person takes on too much work all the time and stretches himself a bit too far. Another has too aggressive an attitude and tends to run roughshod over other people’s sensibilities. Yet another thinks he is always right and refuses to listen to others. You also find star performers who attempt to do too much too soon or people with excellent analytical skills who are sceptical about everything new. The list could go on.

But if you as a manager can help a star performer correct a personality flaw that is turning out to be his limiting factor, he will undoubtedly become a seamless achiever. It will be rewarding for both the individual as well as the organisation. But often, attitude problems are deep seated and difficult to remove. Also being the star performers that they already are, they may not show the willingness to change. You can nevertheless try some of these tactics to minimise the impact of the flawed personality traits on their efficiency:

The super performer: You are lucky to have a person who consistently churns out top class performance in your team, but if you notice that he pushes himself too hard to achieve too much for too long then it is time to act. Often he exhibits a kind of addiction to success and thereby subjects himself to tremendous exertion. You must take the initiative to educate him on the long-term repercussions of stretching too much.

You can begin by appreciating his outstanding accomplishments and slowly move on to explaining the cost of burnout to him. Help him to recognise the signs of overload and advice him on the need to apply breaks from time to time. Divert him from the lure of short-term extremes and train him to focus on long-term sustenance. Let him understand that there is nothing great about driving himself to breaking point time and again. Show him the career paths of people whom he idolises to make him realise that they have not become great overnight.

Thus with careful fine-tuning you can make him continue to do all the good things he has been doing and at the same time prevent him from becoming a spent force too soon.

The aggressive person: A person who is very talented but pays little attention to other’s feelings needs to be corrected at the earliest too. If he is allowed to continue his aggressive ways he will create new enemies each day. As a first step, you must make him realise that aggressiveness is by no means the best way of dealing with people. Let him closely monitor his own behaviour and become aware of what provokes him to turn aggressive.

Often physical changes such as tightening of muscles precede an aggressive out burst. If you can help him identify what exactly happens to him before turning aggressive he will be in a better position to stop flying off the handle. Just as he perceives these physical changes happening, simple techniques such as deep breathing or excusing himself from the on going conversation on some pretext can effectively prevent an outburst. Once he gains his composure he can resume his work more effectively.

The naysayer: A star performer who is too cautious albeit in the best interests of the organisation ends up stifling creativity of the entire team. Usually it is the fear of failure that prevents him from taking risks. Begin by telling him that you appreciate his cautious approach but teach him to evaluate risk better. Coach him to spot not only the downside but also the upside in every situation. Insisting on documentation of pros and cons to every proposed change forces him to take a more objective approach. He will soon learn playing to win and stop fearing failure. Often simple techniques help you to solve complex problems. So put your creativity to the best use to fine-tune the attitudes of your otherwise brilliant people and effectively maximise their potential.

N. Purnima Srikrishna

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