Some employees tend to be highly energetic and proactive. While this reflects in innovations and their willingness to take risks, it can also backfire. For example, if an experiment goes wrong, then the entire department or even organization may need to shoulder the blame. Thus, the proactive employees’ reporting managers need to function in such a way that their energies are utilized in the right direction without jeopardizing the bigger picture. Proper talent management involves that these middle managers are given due independence to try out new methods but must be reined in before anything renders negative results. An experiment was conducted by professors from the Netherlands which tracked middle managers at various departments vis-à-vis their reporting officers. Two kinds of bosses were identified. The first type were the traditional ones who only appraised their mentees quarterly and only on the basis of the existing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The second were those who met monthly to discuss business progress and who evaluated their mentees on innovation parameters outside their strict KPIs as well. It was reported that the latter group performed much better with higher appraisals.

Source:https://hbr.org/2017/09/managing-the-perks-and-pitfalls-of-proactive-people

Uploaded Date: 06 October 2017