Lone ranger workers have unique benefits, fit them into the team

One of my star employees prefers playing lone ranger in complex projects I assign to my team. She claims she works best under minimal interference and I have seen her post impressive results. I, however, believe in team work and would like to have everyone on board the projects without being seen as selective. How do I handle this lady?
---------------------------

It was established many years ago that people’s personalities are defined very early in the life cycle. To put it differently, contrary to what many believe, infants have their own personalities that differentiate one from another. Some of these differences persist to adulthood.

It is true that mothers who have had more than one baby can tell what kind of baby they are carrying even during pregnancy.

A mother we once met talked of the embarrassment she experienced in public because the baby she was carrying was very active and kept kicking her tummy so hard that it became visible to those around her.

Her dress would move in different directions in response to the kicks! Her baby eventually turned out to have severe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and was brought to us for the treatment of hyperactivity first noticed in pregnancy.

A subsequent pregnancy was the very opposite and the same mother kept wondering if the baby would ever kick, but more importantly if the baby was still alive.

This baby did not have ADHD and has remained rather shy. Two pregnancies in the same mother with different personalities.

It has been observed that shortly after birth, babies can be differentiated by both mothers and scientists, in accordance to their behaviour. In this regard, some babies are “difficult” while others are ‘‘easy’’.

Mothers know this best, and describe the difficult ones as those who feed badly, are irritable, sleep only for short periods and seem impossible to please.

Mothers talk of “easy” babies as those that fall off to sleep on the breast, sleep for a predictable number of hours and are easy to cuddle and to give comfort. All these differences are visible and in many cases persist into childhood and in some cases to adult life. Now to your question.

So, you have a star employee who is a lone ranger, and you would like her to play with the team. From the foregoing, and even before you intervene, you might want to find out if this is part of her personality “from birth” or if this is something new. Just because she is different does not mean she is abnormal.

If, for example, she has always been a lone ranger and if as you say she is able to post impressive results, then you are seeking to do the impossible. You are hoping to change an effective individual to suit the whims of a theoretical proposition called team work.

Ask yourself the all important questions. Do you go to the office everyday to achieve team work or to achieve results?

Assuming that you go to work to achieve results, then you have an employee who is doing exactly that and you must accept her for what she is — unless her way of working goes against what you define as best practice for the rest of the company.

Impressive results

At its simplest level, it does not help to have a brilliant footballer who delivers goals, but only when circumstances are ideal. You as the coach might hold the view that you could achieve better results if there was a team in place.

Eleven brilliant footballers who are not one team are effectively useless. So, what business are you in?

In medicine, we see brilliant surgeons who do not make it in life because they are lone rangers. Although they have excellent surgical skills, they lack the bedside manners that patients find so important.

In theatre, they show no respect for nurses and other staff and so, although their results in theatre are impressive the overall value of their work is diminished. In an audit firm there might be some benefit in having an employee who works alone for many hours, avoiding distractions from other staff.

Depending on the nature of your business therefore, you might wish to start off by explaining to the employee what your challenge is and getting her to understand what you expect of her.

You might be surprised to find that it has never occurred to her that her style is in any way a problem. In the alternative she might persuade you that it is in the interest of all concerned for her to continue working in the present manner.

In some cases, she might even be able to suggest a solution. It might be best for her to work from home four days a week.

Being the obsessional personality she clearly is she will work the full eight-hour day without upsetting the rest of the team. Talk to her and she might surprise you!