What do you mean when you talk about brilliant jerks?
A billion jerk is somebody that is a high achiever. Usually very bright because they're brilliant in their area of expertise. They give big results for companies because they're very driven, but it causes a lot of turnover and stress in the company. It’s because usually they are interpersonally blind.
When you get brilliant people sometimes, they just focus on the brilliance and that often tends to feed the ego. Making the behaviour worse. The question is do we do we run with the inputs of what they produce and what they do or do we go we need to sort this out.
Sometimes they fire them because they have caused too much turnover, too many complaints about the employees. Sometimes their roughness even affects customer service. For example, there could be a heart surgeon that was very sought after and the hospital wanted very much to bring him in because he has such international aura. So, they bring him in and, indeed, he's a very good heart surgeon. But the nurses complain his bedside manner is horrible for example, so that could be a case.
These brilliant jerks don't understand why people are complaining because it is their blind spot. So usually one needs to bring that perspective through caching. Saying we find that your approach is a bit raw with people and that too many people are leaving your department. So we propose a coach to guide you. At times they get offended. They think this is a betrayal here. It brings out two types of such people.
One who is put off by having a coach. The other is where they get offended that they haven't got one. So when they're challenged then they don't actually want one. They just want the ego recognition of it.
Then once you start showing them the areas within themselves they need to take a look at that's when they don't necessarily react to the case kindly. I had an English executive that I coached and he introduced me to all his office because having a coach was like a prestige item. I also coach a French executive and she would even take me around the office but never introduced me because then she would have to explain that she has a coach. So you have to see whether the company perceives coaches as a remedial or as developmental or as a perk and that also helps to know how this leader will receive you.
I would say the brilliant jerks generally don't think they need it because they are high performers. Despite them being very brilliant there's an angle that they don't see and usually that angle is the interpersonal one.
In the beginning you can ask them why do you think your I'm here? That’s to see if anyone has spoken to them about this issue. If the boss has spoken to them you can see if things have been clearly said or not. Sometimes it’s necessary to have a pre conversation that has not taken place. The other conversation is around the question of can this coach really help me or not?
What I do is not tell them that they need to be coached. I just ask them what the reasons might be that I'm there. Through that I get awareness. Then is there negative information that might be deterring them from the career. That is in the organization. If they don't know I could propose to do some research work for them how they're perceived. What would make the relationships more productive and then see if they still want to do a coaching or not? They're usually a high-powered individual and very smart so I let them make a decision but I guard the objectives.
It's critical to get the feedback because sometimes it's a surprise and other times expected.
It just depends who it is and how they perceive the world as you rightly mentioned before I think that sometimes they know they're creating havoc, but they think their ability they can get away with it.
It's one thing to be aware. It's another to actually change your behavior to something more productive...
