What derails people despite their talent?

Rahul is extremely talented in his domain. He has the knack of driving marketing campaigns and he is very creative as well. He is very ambitious and restless to achieve bigger success. His pace of work is super fast and he prefers to be highly focused.

Despite all these qualities, his boss called him for a feedback session. The discussion was indeed quite stormy. His boss told him that he has serious concerns of his silo approach to work. His habit of saying, “It is not my job” was also picked by his boss. His boss also mentioned that very few people in the team find it comfortable to work with Rahul!

Rahul was stunned with this feedback; initially he was furious and then he mellowed down to think what went wrong. Despite my drive to achieve, knowledge of the markets, my hard work, why is it that I am getting this kind of feedback?

There are many like Rahul that we come across in corporate world who are very talented in their area; yet struggle to find their feet. A closer analysis reveals many factors, which some people call as ‘softer dimensions’, hamper a person’s ability to perform!

I like to highlight here particularly five factors that talented people must keep in mind.

My success is a factor of many other people:

Talented people need to appreciate the fact that their success needs a lot of support and contribution from others. There is a whole support system that enables them to utilise their talent and deliver results. They need to shed the arrogance or self-inflating feeling that they are great performers. No business result can ever be achieved with singular contribution. Rahul perhaps needs to realise this fact and start respecting the contribution of others.

My colleagues need to accept me before they support me:

Building on the earlier point, once the talented individual realised that their contribution needs the support of others; they need to explore ways of gaining the acceptance of others in the system. If the colleagues do not accept them, they will not be forthcoming to support the talented people. The talented people may face the problem of getting alienated. Therefore, Rahul needs to work on building the rapport and relationship to seek support. Many a times, talented people rely on systems and processes to get support. They argue that people need to support them because process demands. But human behaviour does not exactly operate the same way. They need to appreciate the human needs and build those affiliations so as to get the required support.

My attitude towards less talented people determines my success:

Talented people become impatient and restless when others in the system do not match to their talent. However, it is a fact that organisations consist of top talent and somewhat mediocre performers. They cannot look down upon those less talented people. They may do well to help them become more efficient. In the meanwhile, they have to learn to be patient and get things done. By talking in an insulting manner, they may encourage resistance.

My pace of work depends on the team’s pace:

There is no point in losing the patience at the pace of the team. Talented people need to realise that the final delivery pace depends on the weakest link in the team. If they can do anything to improve it, they should do to uplift the team than criticising or commenting. Talented people tend to blame the system saying that it is because of them they are not able to deliver. They need to act like leaders.

My ability to lead my colleagues determines my success:

Talented people cannot be successful just because of their domain and functional knowledge. They cannot succeed by criticising and turning cynical about the system. They become successful because of their ability to lead the colleagues. Leading your peers is not going to be an easy task because they are not reporting to you. Colleagues listen to you only when you earn their respect. Talented people need to master the art of influencing without authority and get the buy-in of colleagues.

Finally, talented people need to broad base their talent; they can achieve success by leading the team to succeed!