Russell Brand & Jonathan Ross have started a media circus in the last day or so with even the Prime Minister weighing in. Who will be next ? Maybe the Arch Bishop of Canterbury will issue a statement.

But the issue for us is this (and all comments regarding the rights and wrongs of the issue or comments supporting/attacking Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross/Andrew Sachs will be deleted)

“How do managers deal with talented individuals who do wrong?”

The BBC have been roundly criticised for issuing a weak statement in amongst other places here and here

Unfortunately, we have found that most managers will do what the BBC has done in these circumstances – issue a holding statement expressing “grave concern” etc etc and hoping in a few days everyone will settle down, calm down and the issue will be quietly forgotten.

This is conventional management and it is conventional for a reason – it is easy.

But what would you do as a manager to deal with wrongdoing (but highly paid) employees?

For us (and we have managed some pretty lively people – though admittedly, non as “lively” as Brand & Ross). the question is this:

Is the damage done greater than the benefit the talented individual brings to the organisation.

Example – Suppose we employ a talented lady who is the worlds leading widget grower.

Some of her actions annoy & upset some other staff – hey, I can deal with that.

Maybe have a quiet word with both sides & try to resolve the position amicably. This lady is the worlds leading expert and thus contributes to the bottom line of the company (good for everyone).

But then maybe, she goes too far, insists on a number of expensive perks or upsets a special customer which affects a significant number of colleagues. Then I can’t let it go, then the benefit of having 1 satisfied person is maybe 25-30 unhappy ones.

And by NOT solving one problem, I have created another. So I have TWO problems to solve.

Firstly, the upset special customer (maybe I can sort that one out personally on the phone) but the 25-30 upset other staff members will take much longer to sort out – (maybe it will be never fully sorted!)

So I must take action on the lady – she is going to cost the business too much in time and lost productivity, bad publicity etc and although it is not easy – it must be done.