When a lone wolf employee sees a compelling benefit, they are usually much more willing to get behind the team. Be picky and disciplined to prune unnecessary teamwork, and collaborate only when collaboration will give a return on investment. Managers need to scrutinize their projects and say no to wasteful collaboration. Task-oriented individuals may grow resentful if they are forced to go to meetings, attend task forces, and make decisions by committee, when the collaboration offers no real value. Your lone wolf employees will not be persuaded if the goal of collaboration is collaboration itself. #4: You Shouldn't Force Them to CollaborateĬollaboration is everywhere these days and the truth is, it is often overdone. You should find that they do it rather well. Otherwise, give them the space to do the work. It signals that you don't trust the employee despite their advanced understanding of the task and record for achieving project goals.Ĭheck in periodically and do ask questions if you're really not sure what the lone wolf is doing. Smothering these employees by constantly looking over their shoulder and intervening in their day-to-day activities is the worst thing you can do. Lone wolves are independent spirits who get the best results when they are left to their own devices.
Don't confuse work preferences with work capabilities. Beware the ever-growing emphasis placed on teamwork. Just because the lone wolf prefers working alone, does not mean that he or she is unable to lead others and collaborate with clients. Not only did the VP decline Christopher the opportunity, she also gave the message that important projects do not go to lone wolf employees-and this decision was made before the project details were known. This conversation is fictional, but it shows how lone wolves are really viewed by upper management and miss out on crucial opportunities. The client's going to want regular meetings, and I'd feel more comfortable if it were handled by someone who's open to collaboration.
Vice president: "I like Christopher, but this is a high-profile project. Second manager: "How about Christopher? I know he's a bit of a loner, but he is seriously good at crunching the numbers and has a track record for clearing up messy data. She knocked it out of the park with that last Power Point presentation and really wowed the client." Who should head up this project?"įirst manager: "I'd recommend Ashley. I don't have the details yet, but it's going to involve crunching some pretty complex data. Vice president: "So, we have a new campaign coming up for Acme Corporation. When a management team meets to discuss a new business opportunity, the conversation might go something like this: #2: You Shouldn't Pass Them Over For Opportunities Don't jump to conclusions that being a lone wolf is a bad thing. But perhaps the person is a major production center or someone who accepts complete accountability for their (quality) decisions. It's human nature to assume that someone who separates themselves from the group is a slacker or is less motivated towards the team's goals. They contribute to their organizations through high levels of task completion, self-confidence and drive. These employees tend to be highly productive when left alone to prosper on the job. To the credit of lone wolves, research suggests that employees who do not work well on teams often devote greater energy to their work tasks than team players, since they are not wasting energy on interpersonal interactions with others on the team. #1: You Shouldn't Assume It's a Bad Thing
Here are seven things you should not do with a coworker who isn't a team player, and some approaches you might try instead. It's tempting to assume that, in order to manage a lone wolf correctly, you should encourage them to think more about the team.
Managing a lone wolf employee can be incredibly frustrating the entire team's performance may suffer when one person refuses to chip in. Using the four-letter typology developed by Isabel Briggs Myers, there's a strong chance that your lone wolf employee will test as an INTJ, INTP, ISTJ or ISTP, although other types may also have difficulty working in teams. Usually, those reasons relate to his or her personality type-the 'lone wolf' is typically introverted, self-motivated, and is extremely focused on completing her own tasks. In most business environments, the independent-minded person who works better alone has good reason for doing so. Though these two groups can work together cohesively when they need to, they typically accomplish much more when allowed to do things their own way. There are two types of employees: those who thrive in a team environment, and those who would rather work alone.
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