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Brilliant Jerks

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When the manager’s time is occupied with the brilliant jerk, those deserving of coaching and development suffer. It’s easy to spend too much time with the wrong people, and it’s costly in the form of engagement, morale and turnover. Some people are clearly toxic. Other times, their status as a jerk can be a little more subjective. We’ve probably all been a jerk throughout the course of our lives. It’s important to factor different personalities and styles into your assessment of what is going on. Brilliant jerks understand that to obtain the good graces of their bosses, they need to have a deeper understanding of how they function. The by-product of this process starts to develop the brilliant jerk’s understanding of and empathy for others. However, just because brilliant jerks begin to understand their bosses better does not mean they now can adapt their leadership appropriately to the many different stakeholders. For that, the brilliant jerk needs to evolve to the next level of complexity, which brings us to the next step. Step 4: Expanding Their Stakeholder Awareness I have once had to manage a jerk during my career in leadership. Quite an excellent performer, meeting and exceeding targets at all times. But would have issues with one colleague today, and another tomorrow. Again, this jerk was very erratic and gives in to emotions at every slight provocation.

I run a case in my programs featuring Joe (not his real name): A brilliant contributor, widely regarded by customers and his firm’s executives for producing hit products. Starting in childhood, they "unconsciously" develop a pattern of behaviors that "work" for them - that support natural biases in their personality. It becomes habitual very fast. If it’s not a professional trigger, then it might be a personal one. In some instances, a line manager will be aware of any problems outside of work that might have turned a previously ‘quirky genius’ into someone more troubled and disruptive. In revisiting this topic, I'm beginning to wonder if there are ways of salvaging brilliant jerks and preserving the energy, ideas, and performance they can bring to an organization? For example, in larger organizations is reassignment a solution? Will a job with fewer interactions with others help? Can a different boss make a difference? And frankly, when Joseph Charlton first put the play on at the Vault Festival in 2018, he probably couldn’t afford a ride home himself – he had to crowdfund the show for a barrel-scraping two grand, making sets, hiring technicians, and getting just three actors to take both the trio of main roles and all of the many supporting parts too. What came out was, well, brilliant. The Independent, The Standard, and The Stage all gave it a heap of praise, and it’s been further refined since then.With echoes of The Social Network, Joseph Charlton’s Brilliant Jerks is fresh, cool and utterly engrossing. The annoying employee who makes his numbers while alienating those around him will gain needed attention in the coming months with at least one book about to be published on the subject. This is an age-old problem that most managers handle badly. While it is correct that we can hire Jerks into our organisations, largely due faulty or inadequate talent identification methodologies, my experience in industry tells me that most jerks are created by the very systems that are designed to improve performance in organisations: that is were about 70% of the jerks are bred! However, it also means that when people aren’t being the best version of themselves, they have the ability to drag everyone down with them. Where the culture was a fertile pasture where great ideas flourish, almost overnight it becomes a toxic wasteland where ambition and vision dies.

The good news is there is a wealth of quantitative data points in organisations that can be used to pinpoint a potentially corrosive employee. For example, is absenteeism and staff churn on the increase within specific teams? This can be one “calling card” of a corrosive employee who is bringing down morale and forcing your employees to vote with their feet.

A confession and 6 lessons learned the hard way

The best business problem cases are those that divide a class into groups making two or more persuasive arguments. The questions of whether or not and how to make investments in "brilliant jerks" seems to fit that mold. This month's question elicited responses across the spectrum of recommended ways of managing them.

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