请注意，标题中我是加了“才智”的，如果一个员工并没有出众的才华，但是却很麻烦，那就另当别论。也有一些员工，不好管理，但是却能为企业创造价值。有时候往往就是这些有才能的员工，管理起来较有难度。所以，史蒂夫•乔布斯和比尔•盖茨都是便于管理的吗？当然，这并不难。
有时候，我一直觉得这种管理方式是一种“80-20法则”的变体。但不是80%的对商务，20%的对客户。而是，将80%的时间花在20%的员工身上。
由于人与人之间的个性是各不相同的，所以，并没有一个“一招制天下”的绝对妙招。以下几条，仅供参考。
1）三思而下达任务。
在条件允许的范围内（自然并不总是可控），提供一些特别实质性的、具有挑战性的任务,充分利用和发挥可观的技巧。“我们通常把最棘手的任务分派给最好的员工，”这样的分派手段其实是为了激发出他们的最佳潜力。
2）与HR为伍。
尽管好莱坞电影式的幽默表现手法通常是将办公室人员刻画得十分古板老套，尤其是对于HR经理这样的角色。但是现实生活中，一旦遇上人力资源方面的问题，你会发现HR人员真的很有作用。他们可以帮助公司暂时的走出困境。
3）100%清楚当前的棘手困难。
不要惧怕问题——尽可能多的了解为问题细节。如果有困难，例如，如果要将其他团队成员与自己的团队融合，就大胆去做。如果任务有截止期限，放手去做。如果经理太苛刻，照样勇往直前。然后，和团队成员一起为找解决问题方案而努力。
无论如何，这一条的关键是，要100%的清楚问题是什么。
4）重视及时反馈的作用。
不要等到年中或者年末的时候才去总结反馈。而应该时常重视各方反馈——当工作进展顺利就使用正面强化，不顺的时候用积极的引导。如果尚不清楚究竟进程，就稍微等等再做决定。基本上，深刻见解性的反馈和微观调节是有明显区别的。
5）保持修养。
一旦发生冲突，尤其是不可避免的时候，保持冷静。有一些不好管理的员工往往喜欢做煽动者。千万不要因为员工的冲动而与之为怒，发脾气可是不明智的处理方式。（引用一句谚语的说法就是，发脾气当时感觉舒畅，但是第二天早上你会后悔。）所以，作为管理人员，员工再怎么冲动，你也要保持冷静，千万记得——你个人的修养永远是最重要的。
6）档案清晰。
对于员工来说，周密的档案材料是评估进程中不可或缺的要素，也是评估员工任务是否完成的重要指标。实在需要解雇员工的时候，一本完完整整的“证据文件夹”是不是更有说服力呢？
7）清楚的知道何时该说什么话。
当你发现某员工的不妥行为已经造成毁灭性的错误，甚至达到无可挽回的地步时，和HR部门紧密联手，总结他的“罪证材料”，然后（就像Nike广告词那样）“只管去做！（Just do it）”。赶紧行动，而且果断完成。优柔寡断会断送你的领导威严。最后，说几句关于解雇的话，即使再怎么天才的才智员工，只要他确实应该被解雇，那么，你的做法会得到大家的尊重和认可，因为这是必须做的事。因为，其他员工深深的明白，“麻烦”员工有多么讨厌，甚至比他们的经理更加感同身受。无论如何，我认为，只要是为了更好的目标，勇敢去做，就对了。
Notice I included “talented” in the title, since an employee who’s just plain difficult without being talented should probably be managed out of an organization. Many employees who are very difficult, however, can also be exceptional contributors. Sometimes the same keen intelligence that makes them talented also makes them challenging. Think Steve Jobs and Bill Gates would have been easy to manage? Sure, piece of cake…
I sometimes felt this aspect of management was a variant of the 80-20 rule. But rather than 80 percent of business coming from 20 percent of your customers, it seemed as a manager that 80 percent of my time was spent on 20 percent of my employees.
Personalities being unique, there are no simple one-size-fits-all-solutions. That said, after several decades in management, here are seven suggestions to help navigate these choppy waters.
1) Be thoughtful about assignments. To the extent possible (and naturally this isn’t always controllable), provide some especially substantive, challenging assignments that will fully utilize and stretch their considerable skills. “We give our best people the worst assignments,” was a how a former colleague of mine used to jokingly put it. Such assignments can also engage them and bring out their best.
2) Make HR an ally. Despite Hollywood’s tendencies to humorously stereotype the overly bureaucratic Human Resources manager (and I enjoy “The Office” as much as anyone) the fact is, when dealing with delicate personnel matters I found HR invaluable. They provided additional perspective and (no small matter!) kept me and the company out of trouble.
3) Be 100% clear about articulating pain points. Don’t dance around problems – articulate the issues as precisely as possible. If there’s difficulty, for example, collaborating with other team members as a member of the XYZ team, state it. If there are problems delivering projects on deadline, state it. If a manager is so demanding he or she is burning out staff and causing too much turnover, state it. Then work with the individual to build problems into clear and mutually agreed upon performance objectives.
4) Give ample feedback in both directions. Don’t wait until mid-year or end-of-year evaluations for feedback. Provide feedback often and in both directions – positive reinforcement when things are going well and corrective guidance when they’re not. There’s no way to course-correct if it’s not clear correction is needed… and naturally there’s a difference between insightful feedback and pesky micromanagement.
5) No drama. When conflicts arise, as they inevitably do, stay calm. Some challenging employees even enjoy being provocateurs. Don’t allow yourself to be drawn into the fray and pull rank and lose your temper, however tempting that might be. (To use a saying from another realm of experience, it might feel great at the moment but you’ll hate yourself in the morning.) Prepare for a potentially volatile meeting by gaining tight control of your emotions going in. As the manager, you’re the voice of authority and reason – maintain the moral high ground.
6) Document clearly. Thorough documentation is always necessary for clear fact-based evaluations, assessing objectively whether goals are achieved or not. Solid documentation is also essential should you need to build a case for termination.
7) Know when to say when. When you know beyond a doubt that a situation is destructive and unsalvageable, work closely with HR to follow all proper termination procedures, and then (as Nike would say) just do it. Make the move and move on. Indecision erodes authority when action is needed. A few quick words about terminations: If a termination is capricious, it sends chills throughout an organization. (“This could happen to anyone, or worse yet, me!”) But if a termination is truly deserved, a manager will likely be respected for doing what needed to be done. Other employees usually know better than managers what’s going on in the trenches, and problem employees disturb more than just their manager. Since firing and re-hiring are long processes, however, with very real human and economic costs, I always felt it best to try to make a situation work – if it genuinely can.
