Serial entrepreneur Peyton Anderson faced a big employee
challenge a few years ago when he was at the helm of his first
venture, SciQuest. The problem started when one senior-level
employee rejected the team approach Anderson, 38, favored. He
didn't explain how he did things-but didn't mind telling
other employees how much smarter he was than them. He sat alone in
his office all day and stood in the corner at the company holiday
party. Other employees kept their distance.
Anderson agonized about fitting this talented but unapproachable
employee into the company. "He would come up with something
once in a while that was wicked smart," Anderson says.
"[But] he was not the kind of guy you'd want to have lunch
with."
Anderson decided to make the employee a "department of
one" who reported directly to him and worked exclusively on
special projects. "We did it in the context of 'We want
you to work on the important stuff-we don't want you distracted
with small personnel issues,'" he says. "He liked
that."
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Anderson is just one entrepreneur who's managed a "lone
ranger," the employee whose personality is as soft as cactus
but whose skill makes him or her an asset to the company. The
quirks and aloofness of lone rangers can lead to a few showdowns.
"Not only does this person have a hard time communicating,
[but they also] don't want to communicate," says Leann
Mischel, a management professor at Susquehanna University in
Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.
Helping Loners Thrive
Companies need to manage lone rangers differently. First, get
out of the mind-set that they are a bad thing, and help them
understand their roles on the team, says Stephen Fairley, president
of Today's Leadership Coaching, a Chicago-based executive
coaching and leadership development firm. Hand them entire
projects, and avoid micromanaging, a strategy that's sure to
backfire. Figure out their strengths, and find someone in the
company who can connect on some level with this nonpeople person,
at least enough to keep projects moving. "Every Lone Ranger
needs a Tonto," Fairley says. "And delegating
weaknesses-the areas where [The Lone Ranger] isn't good-is what
Tonto's for."
Anderson met with the company's lone ranger every other week
to hear his latest ideas. He also "played Tonto" by
running interference between the lone ranger and the company's
other employees, working hard to smash stereotypes so others
weren't resentful of this employee. The key to keeping
frustrations low, Anderson says, is to let lone rangers use their
strengths while isolating other employees from their weak spots.
"That's 100 percent the entrepreneur's job," says
Anderson, who is now CEO of Affinergy, a company in Research Triangle Park,
North Carolina, which makes coatings for medical devices.
Creating a buffer zone helps with prickly people, Mischel says.
"Having someone who is able to communicate with them but
isn't going to bother them is often a good idea," she
says.
First, make sure the employee really wants to be left alone. The
lone ranger may ache to be a team player but doesn't know how.
A way to find this out is by asking the employee to take charge of
something he or she is passionate about, suggests Susan Battley,
CEO and founder of Battley Performance Consulting, a performance
consulting firm in Stony Brook, New York. This might mean
organizing a company event or giving a presentation to the team.
"You're able to bring the person into the fold more, and
you're also getting knowledge transfer," Battley says. But
if the lone ranger balks at the suggestion, don't push it.
Teamwork can mean different things-something entrepreneurs
should think about before they hire, Battley says. Does teamwork
mean having a team meeting once a week or having employees work
closely every day on projects? The answer will determine whether
lone rangers fit into the business model. "For some
[companies], having a lone ranger wouldn't work," Battley
says. "It's a question of whether it's functional for
the business."
Tell applicants what kind of teamwork is expected on the job
when interviewing. Asking a few targeted questions-how much they
like working on teams, how they would describe their workstyles,
even whether they prefer team sports over individual sports-can
reveal whether applicants prefer working solo.
The goal with lone rangers is to create structure within
freedom, balancing the space they want with the needs of the team.
"Try to siphon as much information as you can from them, but
let them work on their own, because that's the way they work
best," Mischel says. "And part of being a good manager is
to recognize the environment that's going to let each person
give their best efforts."
is a freelance journalist in the Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, area.