As a manager, you just hired a great technical resource, Jasmine Mitchell. Jasmine will work from home since she lives 75 miles from the office. You are officially a virtual leader. The effort of incorporating Jasmine in adhoc meetings, training, and culture building events will make your job more challenging. You may need to arrange Skype lunches (eLunches) and keep her engaged in events that take place only in the office. Nevertheless, she was hired based on her technical capability with the hope that she would share her talent with the team.
Jasmine has been on board for three months and your intuition was spot on, she has great technical skills. However, Jasmine is not bonding well with the team. During the interview process, she agreed to visit the office twice a month. Her excuses for missing dates and “no shows” at the office begin to mount. Give her an Oscar, like many, she nailed the interview portion regarding being a team player. When Jasmine eventually visits the office, she rarely interacts to build relationships with the team. As far as she is concerned, she does her job and could care less about the company based social activity. During a rare office visit from Jasmine, you plan a few dinner meetings (team bonding) during her stay, but she declines because she has other plans. Eventually, the team resents Jasmine; and she does not want to teach, socialize or collaborate with the team. Unfortunately, her technical prowess has gone to her head. At this point, she does not have a strong relationship with her immediate team and she has limited his contact with other groups within the company. At the point your peers and other leaders are questioning you about you regarding the decaying situation.
Give the below questions some thought. The questions may vary from one leader to another based on what you value.
- What is most important, technical abilities or culture fit?
- Can she be coached?
- What is the criteria regarding hiring an employee versus a consultant?
- How do you convey the consequences regarding “work from home rules” without scaring off the employee?
- What can you do to foster more “buy in” from the team and other leaders regarding hiring remote employees?
- What must you do at this point to resolve the situation?
Don’t stay stuck with Jasmine. Review all of your options, seek advice and make a decision.
“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character” – Albert Einstein
Thanks for your comments Scott. I like it when folks weigh in!
Based on your points, do you think that a higher level of due diligence should have taken place during the interview process regarding selecting a person that has a natural propensity for teaching.
Should the candidate be more in alignment with the company’s values?