Tap the potential of 'difficult' staff

'High-maintenance' employees may have problems at home or simply be bored with their job. But proactive management can turn things around.

'High-maintenance' staff take many forms. They may need constant reassurance, they may consistently underperform or spread negativity among their colleagues. All of these types of behaviour can be a serious drain on the time of their managers.

But one of the skills of managing a diverse and varied workforce is recognising that people do not always fit into neat categories. High-maintenance staff may be stressed, have problems in the workplace or at home, or may simply be struggling in their role. Paradoxically, they might also be high-potential employees who are under-used. Finding out the cause of such behaviour is essential.

"It may be that the person who is being 'difficult' needs a challenge — they may be the typical 'type A' personality, and thrive on being pushed or tested, and in those conditions do their best work," points out Gladeana McMahon, vice president of the Association for Coaching.

Ed Fothergill, senior consultant with business psychology consultancy Xancam, agrees. "There is an overlap between high-maintenance and high-potential," he says. "High-maintenance can be high-potential with nowhere to go. In central and local government there can be a perception  you are just waiting to fill 'dead man's shoes', which is very frustrating."

Continuous professional development (CPD) should be the solution, but councils are not always sufficiently proactive. "Unfortunately, in local government CPD can still be seen as a box-ticking exercise," says Mr Fothergill. "In particular, managers don't like marking staff down on any competency, because this will mean having a 'difficult' conversation with an individual, which they don't want to have."

However, avoiding the issue will only store up problems for later. The challenge for senior managers is to identify the causes of unrest or dissatisfaction among employees.

"What managers need to do is develop their emotional intelligence," says Jez Cartwright, director of workplace consultancy Akindred. "I'm amazed how much training goes on in the various functions that managers carry out, but so little is done to help people manage each other. Even those in the HR function often lack people skills."

Staff should know what is expected of them in terms of behaviour as well as what results are desirable, says Professor Robin Stuart-Kotze, chairman of consultancy Behavioural Science Systems and author of Who Are Your Best People? He argues that without proper guidance, highly talented people can sometimes be guilty of 'performance blocking' — or sabotaging their own career chances.

"Often, people know perfectly well what they are doing wrong, and what they need to change in order to do a better job," says Professor Stuart-Kotze. But they don't do it. Instead, they behave in a way which is not going to boost their career prospects; it will diminish them."

So how should such guidance be given? One strategy is to pre-empt the problem by introducing development schemes that help staff see that there is a clear career structure within the council and which recognise that people at all levels have potential.

The Improvement & Development Agency highlights a number of councils taking a best practice approach, including the Surrey Training Officers' Group, which has set up a shared training programme across 11 district and borough councils. The scheme runs 50 courses annually, and is now hoping to include coaching and mentoring for staff, as well as internal management development programmes.

Meanwhile, Castle Morpeth BC has introduced a training programme, Constellation, which focuses on different organisational tiers, including: 'guiding stars', those below unit manager level with staffing responsibilities; 'rising stars', those up to unit manager level; and 'shining stars', individuals and teams who exceed the expectations of their role.

But even if your organisation has a good scheme in place, there is the danger of going onto "management autopilot", according to Linda Holbeche, research and policy director at the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development. Managers still need to take charge and ensure all members of their team are getting what they need out of their role.

"One effective way forward is to give potential high achievers more challenging targets. This can also be a way of getting the team to work around them," she points out.

"Get people out of their comfort zone, get them to deliver to a target. Then they have to deploy their skills — they can't just be a prima donna and there is no way they can get bored."

Finding meaningful ways to stretch the brightest members of your team may be a challenge in itself. However, Ms Holbeche says managers avoid this issue at their peril.

"An organisation is a very political place, everyone has their own agenda and there is no point being naïve about it," she says. "But if you ignore high-maintenance staff, they can wreak havoc."

DOs

• Try and understand what motivates staff as individuals and be open-minded about their potential

• Integrate any fast-track scheme into a consistent staff development policy

• Be proactive and think of creative ways of challenging staff who show ability

DON'Ts

• Assume that all your high-potential staff are the ones who are happy and highly motivated

• See the organisation's high-potential staff as a separate group and overlook the potential of other staff

• Allow staff to waste potential by staying in their 'comfort zone'