Kissing Frogs: 4 Reasons Great Talent Fails

Before I know it, my kids will be dating and I know that at some point, they're going to bring home a 'bad seed' or as my wife and I may try to more politely describe them, 'a stinker'. On the defensive, we're sure to be met with lines from our kids like, 'Don't worry Mom and Dad, they're not as bad as you think' or 'they'll get better'. There's something about the concept of 'works in progress' that is attractive to many people, on a personal level and professional level. Work is no different. We'll find ourselves in 'bad seed' or 'stinker' jobs that while seemingly full of potential, are really just never ending 'works in progress'. We can easily fool ourselves into kissing poison frogs, thinking we're kissing a prince or princess. Worse though, the poison slowly kills our true potential.

How do we get here?

1. It's starts with ourselves, as candidates. Our judgement can become clouded by the attractiveness of a new job, new title, ideal salary, etc., that we ignore the fact that this prince, sure does kiss like a frog
2. Organization's are quick to seek, court, and land candidate's who possess the most potential, even though they aren't prepared (or ignorant how) to nurture that talent to its potential.

Regardless of which is to blame, it always leads to the same end: Failure.

There are 4 key reasons that great talent fails:

• Poor Fit
• Disengagement
• Organizational Politics
• Personal Circumstances

The first three are direct ties to bad leadership, which kills talent. Worse though, it lays seeds of doubt in even the best of people. Long after that talent has moved on, those seeds have laid damaging roots of uncertainty that the employee will carry with them for years to come.

4 Poison Frogs

Poor fit:

Right people, in the right place, at the right time. That's the formula we all seek. It's easy for a candidate to look at a job description and say, 'That's me, I can do that job in my sleep!'. Yet many organizations write a job requisition and present it based on some ideal future state that doesn't actually exist today. The job they're hiring for, doesn't exist until a variety of unsaid contributing factors are resolved. Meaning, the job of today, is much much cloudier.

You could in fact be the ideal person in the ideal job but if it's at the wrong time (EX: Great product, in an immature market or a great team but distracted by a bad manager), in these scenarios, the timing isn't right. Right Person, Right Place, but the Wrong Time. Now it's Important to note that these are SITUATIONAL experiences, not a determination of you as a talent.

• I once worked with a brilliant person who in a moment of frustration, pounded his desk and declared 'I've never failed at anything in my life, why can't I make THIS work!' He wasn't a failure, he was in the wrong job at the wrong time
• What was funny about that scenario is that after he left, a year or so later, I was sitting at my desk and those words echoed in the walls around me and I thought to myself, I've never failed at anything in my life, why can't I make this work!'

Have you pounded your desk the same way? Take that failure for what it's worth, lessons from a moment in time. But remember, it's not a life sentence.

Disengagement:

Whether with the best of intentions or a faulty self-assessment of where the organization truly is, when good talent is brought onboard a leaking ship, disenchantment occurs quickly, surely impacting performance. When this occurs, the organization sits back dumbfounded:

'What happened, we thought they had so much potential!?'

But when an organization is diseased, dying or sinking, it doesn't take long for smart people to uncover a ruse. No matter how talented you are, you can't right the ship at the same time as bailing water. Asking someone to do both, will push them to disengagement quickly.

Ask yourself: Am I disengaged because I'm doing more fixing than steering?

Organizational Politics:

If our jobs were simply a 1:1 equation of 'task at-hand' and the 'knowledge to do', we wouldn't be having this conversation. Instead we often place the best people in the worst environments (maybe even intentionally). We cross our fingers that their talent alone will bring light to a dimly lit room. We say things like, 'we want change agents' but the only change we make is to their own confidence. As individuals and organizations, it's important to remember that these rooms are dark for a reason:

• Internal power plays
• Insecure leaders
• Organizational chaos

There are all minefields that quality talent must avoid even when those weapons come looking for them.

• As HBR  poignantly warns: 'the more talented you are, the more enemies you will make, particularly in toxic and political organizations'.

Life Happens:

Troubles at home, illnesses or other personal unsaids are always the X factors when it comes to people and jobs. While we can't predict these circumstances, we can prepare for them. Good organizations create environments of trust, led by human focused leaders who know their people and are prepared to support talent during the turbulent ups/downs of life. Still because we can't predict the future and the surprises of life, good organizations also are continuously developing a supporting cast of characters, ready to take their cue when their card is read. In other words, you need a bench. Not a bench that's looking to dethrone the starter, rather a bench which is there to support the star players when those stars needs a break.

Life Happiness:

There's a wildcard reason that great talent doesn't reach its full potential (at least in your org.) and it's the hybrid of Life Happens and Happiness. Sometimes good talent simply wakes up and realizes that just because they're good at a job, doesn't mean they love that job. If the worst thing that ever happened to your organization is that your most talented people never met their potential because they found true happiness in other more personal pursuits, I would still consider that winning. Even if your stars only shine for you momentarily, that light is sure to have a lasting impact on you and them.

So what say you? Are you kissing a frog, thinking it's a prince? Is your organization poisoning great talent?

Things to think about.

-sam

If you believe you have talent left on the table or were once a prince that's now a frog, reach out to me to discuss.

And for those wondering, yes, that's little Sammy holding a frog of his own