Dealing with Your Office’s “Divas”
Posted May 17th, 2010
Are there individuals at your company who seem to “know it all” and enjoy letting others know they know it? Are there people who can take a seemingly offhand remark and make it into a declaration of war? Are there those who appear to hear instructions, yet do things their way on their time schedule?
Yet as maddening as these behaviors are, sometimes a company’s “divas” are the best performing employees, mavericks with ‘tude, but with a solid work ethic and who enjoy reaching and exceeding goals.
Basically, there are two kind of office “divas.” Those who are high-performing mavericks as described above and, well, those who are drama queens, making Everests out of problems and challenges that truly are anthills. (Both men and women can be drama queens, by the way.)
Both are challenging to manage. Both can be a true pain in the keister. But the mavericks are keepers as they stretch your management style to the max while accomplishing far more than other employees, while the drama queens are true pains in the derriere.
Here are just a few tips on how to deal with each:
Mavericks: Yes, they can be arrogant. Yes, they can be hard to control. But so long as they exceed at their positions, which they invariably do, you need to aim to give them clear objectives and goals while also giving them a long and loose leash. Should your mavericks be annoying as all get out to other employees — the imperial attitude, the flaunting of rules, etc. — you should sit with them and give unambiguous goals regarding their behavior with others (thankfully, many mavericks tend to congregate in sales positions, so they may be out of the office more often than not).
You’ll need to listen to their venting that they meant no harm, people are too sensitive, etc., when you tell them they’ve hurt the feelings of others, and you’ll need to listen gently and with some sympathy. Then, as you counsel them on their behavior, do so quietly but firmly, engaging their sense of being “above all this” and stressing that you know they prefer to walk a higher path.
As for the office drama queens, counseling also is in order, with specific goals and objectives regarding their behavior as well as outcomes. Never tell them they are drama queens; instead keep any counseling session business-like and based on facts. Give them deadlines regarding when you expect tasks and projects done (their love of drama and problem creation often distracts drama queens so much that they often miss deadlines and fail to finish tasks.) As you counsel them, be prepared: they may start blaming others for the missed deadlines, etc.
Be very firm with drama queens. Give them deadlines and give them firm consequences for missing those deadlines.
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