A Workplace Pain in the ASSet

A Full-Circle Tangents Blog by Anthony Poponi |Focus on the 40

Do you have an employee like this?

• They have incredible expertise, institutional knowledge, sales acumen or some other exceptionally hard to replace skill set or knowledge base.
• They often can solve complex problems especially when there is “stuff” hitting the fan.
• They figure out solutions to the complex stuff others can’t fix.
• Your external partners and clients love them.
• They are undying loyal to the organization and take pride in their work.

They are obviously an asset to your company.

However, this asset can also have a dark side.

• They present challenges to team dynamics and communication.
• They may have a wee bit of an ego problem.
• They can be indifferent to or unaware of their negative impact on culture.
• They are problem makers and their negatives undermine their positive attributes.

In essence. They are a pain. Yet, they are an asset.

They are a Pain in the ASSet.

This ASSet might be your secret weapon, your sales ninja, your fixer.

And they can also be your biggest internal challenge.

Client X of mine had a Pain in the Asset employee:

• A problem solver and under pressure figures out solutions.
• Loved by clients and would fall on the sword for the company.
• And yet, under pressure was toxic, led by fear and retribution.

Here’s two options for how you resolve the challenges of your Pain in the ASSet super-star-hand-grenade-throwing-toxic-talent:

1. Fire Them
2. Harness Them

Yes. Firing them resolves some of the cultural challenges (not all!) but comes at a cost to the company, external partners and to your organization. Letting go of ASSets is hard.

So what to do? Harness their greatness and diminish their impact on the rest of the team.

And just as importantly….diminish their impact on you.

We did this with Client X and the results have been phenomenal. Creating a safe place to be vulnerable to have hard conversations and make the shift to a true asset often takes time and willingness – but so worth it!

If you’ve reached a serious pain point with them and almost let them go. Maybe more than once. And procrastinated on make the choice to culture by through subtraction of one ASSet but you held back.

Harnessing this greatness requires effort, intent and resolve but you can’t ignore cultural issues. Book a 30-minute discovery call to talk through some solutions. BOOK NOW!

Not sure where your culture stands? See if your Pain in the Asset is part of larger cultural challenges with your team.

Take this free workplace culture assessment and see if it’s time to fire or fix your Asset. TAKE SURVEY!