Is the employee high potential, high maintenance, or both?

Yesterday, at a local chapter meeting of the American Society for Training and Development in Ft. Lauderdale, a panel speaker discussed the importance of organizations nurturing their high potential employees. Certainly, most would agree. Where there may be some confusion, however, is in how an organization goes about identifying a high potential employee.

Many of us are familiar with the “halo effect” in which favorable performance-related characteristics – ambitious, honest, savvy, to name a few – are attributed to an employee because the person is nice or likes us. Perhaps, in some instances, these are accurate assessments. When they are not, a manager may succumb to categorizing a “nice” employee as being high potential while the employee who is demanding, forthright, and exacting, but who adds considerable value to an organization, is considered high maintenance and, thus, having low potential. While the former evokes warm and fuzzy feelings toward the employee, the latter is typically a love-hate relationship because organizations love what this employee produces but hates having to deal with their personality or demands.

Don’t despair if you’re trying to decide if an employee has potential, is a pain, or both. Read Katherine Graham Leviss’ article, High-Maintenance Employee: Why Your Best People Will Also Be Your Most Difficult ... and What You Can Do About It.