To the rest of you – Our sidebar is done.
Posted by Faith Fuqua-Purvis

For me, success is not around the corner. It is here, right now, where I am in life now. I can choose to be happy or sad or angry or frustrated or any other emotion. I’ve also overcome health and physical challenges. They have lead me to where I am today.

For me, I’m trying to treat each day as an opportunity – to learn, to contribute, to connect. Not all contributions will be understood or agreed with and I won’t connect with everyone, but I’m ok with that.

My intention in posting is often to provoke thinking and analysis, rather than to state a specific position or approach. As such, one might label me as “high maintenance”.
Posted by Faith Fuqua-Purvis

Here is your post to which I was responding.

“Jerry Grunor • I certainly agree with Peter. Many high maintenance people are very creative and arrogant because they are different, but can develop ideas that others do not understand. I would go through the lot and see who would benefit the company most and how much maintenance they would cause to the rest of us…then ask the rest to find jobs elsewhere. Heck, we had a few in our organization and believe it or not, they were wonderfully, creative people who lacked organizational skills. I decided to keep them on and see what would develop. Their freestyling, artistic disobedience turned a small company into a most exciting organization and we all benefitted from it. ”

What I am trying to question is the labeling.

As for myself, I personally try to change my “lens” frequently and see how things might appear from someone elses perspective. I have found it enlightening both personally and professionally. However everyone is different. It was not an attempt to impose any of my personal beliefs or preferences on you – simply share an alternative idea or thought.
Posted by Faith Fuqua-Purvis

My true response is that those driven to drink and to bankruptcy allowed that to happen. There are always two sides to every argument and situation. There are causes, effects, and side effects. Individuals should take responsibility for their choices and actions, not just complain about it later. Those individuals chose to begin the relationship and were seeking something from it.

@ Earl – Thank you for your response. I do believe that there are different value systems and measurements and not everyone has the ability to view all sides of a situation or measure fairly.

@ Jerry – To try a different lens, one might challenge is it truly arrogance (yes, sometimes it is) or is it interpersonal style. Individuals can be “abrupt” without being arrogant or have a “challenging” interaction style because they are truly thinking and processing. Sometimes the thought processes get in the way of the social interactions.

Independent of prior comments…
1 – I think the first thing that should be done is assess the label “high maintenance” and really look at each individual to try to understand their personality, motivations, and drivers. High maintenance can be and often is an effect, not the root cause. If the root cause is managed (or can be managed) the effect would diminish.

2 – I think it is important to also understand that high maintenance in one area does not mean in all areas. I have observed individuals whose behavior patterns are markedly different in different situations. I have made the choice to continue interacting within one avenue and disassociate myself in another.

3 – I also believe that it is important to segregate and analyze “high maintenance” in view of individual interactions and effects upon groups. Again, this relates to looking beyond the label or effect to the drivers and motivators. Group dynamics, culture et el come into play.

Regarding “getting rid of them” – It takes time, money, and physical energy to bring new resources on board. The first question to ask is will the coaching, training, retraining, etc cost more than the cost to bring in someone new. That is a basis cost-benefit analysis that is often overlooked.

I believe that many employees out there could become “excellent” employees. To me it’s more than just turning the “good into great”.

The big gap that I see is the individual focus. Employees often move into the “excellent” category because of the individual focus, time and attention, and desire to understand their wants and needs.

My challenge to you is to look at your “excellent” employees and assess if, and how, they are treated differently. How might that difference in treatment actually be driving their behavior? What if you applied those differences to another individual? A challenge might be to assess this and then pick a “high maintenance” individual and see if you can’t create a game changer.
Posted by Faith Fuqua-Purvis

My true response is that those driven to drink and to bankrupcy allowed that to happen. There are always two sides to every arguement and situation. There are causes, effects, and side effects. Individuals should take responsibiity for their choices and actions, not just complain about it later. Those individuals chose to begin the relationship and were seeking something from it.

@ Earl – Thank you for your response. I do believe that there are different value systems and measurements and not everyone has the ability to view all sides of a situation or measure fairly.

@ Jerry – To try a different lens, one might challenge is it truly arrogance (yes, sometimes it is) or is it interpersonal style. Individuals can be “abrupt” without being arrogant or have a “challenging” interaction style because the they are turly thinking and processing. Sometimes the thought processes get in the way of the social interactions.

Independent of prior comments…
1 – I think the first thing that should be done is assess the label “high maintenence” and really look at each individual to try to understand their personality, motivations, and drivers. High maintenance can be and often is an effect, not the root cause. If the root cause is managed (or can be managed) the effect would diminish.

2 – I think it is important to also understand that high maintenance in one area does not mean in all areas. I have observed individuals whose behavior patterns are markedly different in different situations. I have made the choice to continue interacting within one avenue and disaccociate myself in another.

3 – I also believe that it is important to segregate and analyze “high maitenance” in view of individual interactions and effects upon groups. Again, this relates to looking beyond the label or effect to the drivers and motivators. Group dynamics, culture et el come into play.

Regarding “getting rid of them”. It takes both time and money to bring new resources on board. The first question to ask is will the coaching, training, retraining, etc cost more than the cost to bring in someone new. That is a basis cost-benefit analysis that is often overlooked.

I believe that many employees out there could become “excellent” employees. To me it’s more than just turning the “good into great”.

The big gap that I see is the individual focus. Employees often move into the “excellent” category because of the individual focus, time and attention, and desire to understand their wants and needs.

My challenge to you is to look at your “excellent” employees and assess if, and how, they are treated differently. How might that difference in treatment actually be driving their behavior? What if you applied those difference to another individual. A challenge might be to assess this and then pick a “high maintenance” individual and see if you can’t create a game changer.
Posted by Faith Fuqua-Purvis