Does this sound familiar? There is a person in your organization who is brilliant. They always have great ideas, bring in tons of new business and seems so valuable. Everyone believes the organization could never get along with them.
Unfortunately, they are also a jerk?
What do you do with the brilliant jerk? Dealing with problem coworkers is a dilemma commonly found in many companies, but no one acts on fixing the situation.
Or maybe your colleagues frequently complain about each other and are not focused on their work? Healthy work cultures focus on talking about their projects, not a constant flow of complaints about people.
If coworkers are complaining about how difficult it is to get things done because of the brilliant jerk or other irritant personalities, it means the energy is getting sucked out of the culture. Something has to be done to purge the jerk and to relieve the pressure.
Culture and Teams
Great companies purge the brilliant jerks out of their business. They use data to see trends in culture and large-scale shifts in attitudes. Whether it is a net promoter score or something similar, simple surveys over time help shine a light on how things are changing.
Well-managed businesses have a mechanism that allows colleagues to vote a player off the island because they don’t fit with the environment. Even though they contribute to revenue or new product ideas, no one wants to work with them as they make the daily grind – an actual, daily grind.
Having a mechanism to vote on how things are going, is a sign of a company that wants to listen to the consensus of associates and continuously improve.
One Simple Thing to Help Leaders Manage Effectively
Take the companies blood pressure. Just like personal blood pressure tells you if you are putting a strain on your body, if you regularly measure your companies stress, you can identify a problem before it explodes. Instead of anecdotes, try using data.
If every quarter, all associates are sent a link to three survey questions, you can monitor if things are trending positively, negatively on staying on course. You might use different language and issues, but the idea is still helpful. You might also pick slightly different topics to survey depending on the population and what you are seeking to measure.
On a scale of 1-10, do you disagree or agree with each question?
- Do we have any brilliant jerks who are damaging our culture?
- Are you spending an unnecessary amount of time complaining about individuals at work, instead of focusing on your projects?
- Is our culture trending in the right directions where you feel happy, safe and productive?
Adding a verbatim box that allows people to comment further, also provides a chance to see if someone is like a splinter in your toe, causing inflammation and pain.
Measure the Stress
Some stress in a business can be motivating. And, some difficult people can be valuable toward achieving business goals. But experience demonstrates that no one is irreplaceable.
Just like you want to know your blood pressure over time, if you take the companies’ pressure once per quarter, you’ll have some data that tells you if your business needs to see a doctor.
Measuring attitudes over time is a healthy approach to avoiding avoidable problems. Time to check your companies pressure.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Try my new chat feature on my site if you have a quick question.
Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash
