Difficult workers could be your company's assets
5 Nov 2009, 0255 hrs - BusinessWeek
By Alaina Love
BusinessWeek
When I was working as a human resources executive at the headquarters of a large multinational firm, there was a guy with disheveled hair who always wore a yellow and green plaid jacket and clashing bow tie who would periodically stop by my office to visit. "Michael" would slide into a chair and launch into a conversation about whatever happened to be on his mind that day.
He was a corporate renegade who didn't much care about following imposed rules or protocol (hence the absence of the traditional blue suit and starched white shirt). He would rarely actually schedule an appointment to see me, yet he contributed to the knowledge base of the organization in ways that most people overlooked.
I can still vividly remember the depth and range of our discussions, and I'm grateful that I had the sense to follow my instincts and listen with an open mind. Michael might chat about the potential for improving our performance in India one day and the relationship between string theory and morphogenetic resonance the next. (Yeah, I was baffled by that one too!)
What was most interesting about Michael was his uncanny ability to transform what appear to most folks to be random, "way out there" thoughts into blindingly brilliant ideas.
I never doubted that Michael was comfortably carrying a high IQ, but what I now understand is that he also possesses what I call a robust "Conceiver" passion.
Characteristically, Conceivers are passionate strategists and big-picture thinkers with broad intellectual interests, who can absorb large volumes of information at a glance and quickly identify what is most important.
I later came to realize the incredible value of Conceivers like Michael and the propensity of some organizations to marginalize people like him.
The Role of "Conceivers"
If you're a leader in a large enough organization, you've run into people like Michael. They don't always show up in a plaid jacket, but they have their own unique style. You find them playing the role of devil's advocate as they challenge plans and processes. They are sometimes the folks who infuriate co-workers with their tendency to exhaustively examine ideas—only to discard them later as inferior solutions.
For Conceivers, life is a complex and compelling exploration of new and innovative ways to view the world. They contribute to organizations significantly by changing the quality and depth of the conversation and supporting the generation of breakthrough ideas. At the same time, Conceivers can drive the rest of us crazy as we struggle to keep up with the pace at which their minds work.
They often generate ideas faster than we can process them, or their ideas seem so farfetched that we may disregard them as too outlandish to possibly work. There are times when we couldn't be more wrong.
If you are managing a "plaid jacket" Conceiver, I bid you both good luck and congratulations. The best advice I can provide is to sharpen your mental game and be prepared to meet his or her ideas head-on. Conceivers will synthesize knowledge faster than most others and will always look to find deeper meaning within it, which is why they are such valued members of a team. Ask insightful and intelligent questions as Conceivers navigate through the spider-diagram of innovations in their heads, and you'll earn their respect and trust.
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5 Nov 2009, 0255 hrs - BusinessWeek
By Alaina Love
BusinessWeek
When I was working as a human resources executive at the headquarters of a large multinational firm, there was a guy with disheveled hair who always wore a yellow and green plaid jacket and clashing bow tie who would periodically stop by my office to visit. "Michael" would slide into a chair and launch into a conversation about whatever happened to be on his mind that day.
He was a corporate renegade who didn't much care about following imposed rules or protocol (hence the absence of the traditional blue suit and starched white shirt). He would rarely actually schedule an appointment to see me, yet he contributed to the knowledge base of the organization in ways that most people overlooked.
I can still vividly remember the depth and range of our discussions, and I'm grateful that I had the sense to follow my instincts and listen with an open mind. Michael might chat about the potential for improving our performance in India one day and the relationship between string theory and morphogenetic resonance the next. (Yeah, I was baffled by that one too!)
What was most interesting about Michael was his uncanny ability to transform what appear to most folks to be random, "way out there" thoughts into blindingly brilliant ideas.
I never doubted that Michael was comfortably carrying a high IQ, but what I now understand is that he also possesses what I call a robust "Conceiver" passion.
Characteristically, Conceivers are passionate strategists and big-picture thinkers with broad intellectual interests, who can absorb large volumes of information at a glance and quickly identify what is most important.
I later came to realize the incredible value of Conceivers like Michael and the propensity of some organizations to marginalize people like him.
The Role of "Conceivers"
If you're a leader in a large enough organization, you've run into people like Michael. They don't always show up in a plaid jacket, but they have their own unique style. You find them playing the role of devil's advocate as they challenge plans and processes. They are sometimes the folks who infuriate co-workers with their tendency to exhaustively examine ideas—only to discard them later as inferior solutions.
For Conceivers, life is a complex and compelling exploration of new and innovative ways to view the world. They contribute to organizations significantly by changing the quality and depth of the conversation and supporting the generation of breakthrough ideas. At the same time, Conceivers can drive the rest of us crazy as we struggle to keep up with the pace at which their minds work.
They often generate ideas faster than we can process them, or their ideas seem so farfetched that we may disregard them as too outlandish to possibly work. There are times when we couldn't be more wrong.
If you are managing a "plaid jacket" Conceiver, I bid you both good luck and congratulations. The best advice I can provide is to sharpen your mental game and be prepared to meet his or her ideas head-on. Conceivers will synthesize knowledge faster than most others and will always look to find deeper meaning within it, which is why they are such valued members of a team. Ask insightful and intelligent questions as Conceivers navigate through the spider-diagram of innovations in their heads, and you'll earn their respect and trust.
.
