Another client just fired a lone wolf. I’ve lost count of how many times the predictable lone wolf scenario has played out across a number of companies in a variety of industries.
Lone Wolf Scenario
He’s a top notch sales person. He says he wants to grow. What he really wants is a promotion, the fancy title, higher salary, larger office, increased status. He can only achieve these goals via the management track.
You don’t want to lose him, so you over ride your inner wisdom and put him in charge of a team. Within a year or two, you know it’s time to let him go. Hopefully you do so.
Sometimes, people move the lone wolf to another management role, and another, and another. Different team, same problem. Somewhere along the line his manager hires a coach. The lone wolf improves slightly but reverts back. Now what? The solution seems obvious. Create another career track.
One high tech company I work with has a consulting engineer career track for lone wolves who can solve the most complex technical problems. They’re superheroes, like Red Adair, an innovator in the highly specialized and hazardous profession of extinguishing and capping oil well blowouts. Adair would be called in to address a crisis and would leave when the job was done.
Be warned, however, the lone wolf can wreak havoc even in these situations. Solving rare and highly complex problems, requires communicating and working with the existing team. But the lone wolf often behaves in ways that leaves others feeling frustrated and devalued. Unless the team is well prepared and willing to overlook these behaviors, they may not share important information readily. Collaboration suffers. Several layers of management and HR may be required to clean up the mess.
Lone Wolf Behaviors – down side
If the role or situation calls for the behaviors listed below, it’s not a good fit.
- Maintaining open communication with team members, peers, managers
- Timely information sharing
- Gathering input and taking different perspectives into account
- Consulting with others to make important decisions
- Following established rules and processes
Lone Wolf Behaviors – up side
Think about hiring a lone wolf, If you need someone who:
- Is creative
- Creates her own rules
- Won’t need to do things the way people have always done them in your company
But if she’s required to play well with others, I recommend a wolf who enjoys and gets along with the rest of the pack.