Giftedness

Managers who understand what giftedness entails are better able to respond to their employees’ needs and thus contribute to better working relationships and performance. For many managers, this does not come naturally. If you find yourself with questions about how best to support a highly gifted employee, seek specific information or advice from specialist literature, experts with practical experience or specialist coaches. Do you suspect that an employee is gifted, but they themselves are not yet aware of this? If so, discuss this suspicion openly and consider specialist coaching if this is appropriate for the work situation and the employee’s needs. Coaching can help, for example, to gain insight and/or improve collaboration and communication. In this way, greater use can be made of the gifted individual’s potential, and it contributes to the employee’s long-term employability. Bear in mind that the characteristics of giftedness are permanent, and an employee cannot be expected to conform to the norm of the team or the organisation. The aim is to find a way of working together.

Set aside time regularly to discuss what support or approach suits the individual best and what you expect from one another. Highly gifted employees thrive on autonomy, but tend to take on too much because virtually everything appeals to them. A clear objective, a well-defined division of roles (responsibilities and decision-making authority), combined with prospects for development or broadening their horizons, helps them to focus. Provide guidance and help them prioritise where necessary; how you do this is determined by the way you give feedback. Specify exactly what behaviour you are observing, what the consequences are for the work, and what you would like to see instead, regardless of who the employee is as a person. Give the employee the opportunity to work on tasks that are intellectually challenging or wide-ranging. In practice, the added value of this is often considerable. Without the prospect of further development and new opportunities, the gifted employee may become frustrated or develop ‘bore-out’. Gifted employees are often driven by idealism and provide critical input based on a genuine commitment to the organisation. A manager who is open to diversity in thinking and working actually makes that commitment possible. In short: managing a gifted employee is challenging, but usually results in an employee who performs to a high standard and with great commitment.