If we are to believe every SOP, policy and guideline ever published about performance management, we might be easily convinced that the world worked to plan, in accordance with fundamental laws of science and procedure. That there were no outliers.
Can I tell you something I’ve learned over the past 3 decades?
A majority of your high performers feel like outsiders. And, for that group, that’s not a new or passing feeling.
Because they are Corporate Misfits.
Why your best performers feel like outsiders
Reason 1: Because they are
First, let’s start with a baseline understanding. Take a look at this graphic:
This is pretty easy to understand, right – there are high performers who exhibit a range of levels of conformity to corporate norms.
However, this is where things get thorny – because, it’s really difficult to admit that you don’t fit in, even more so when you’re delivering results that go above and beyond your peers.
So, what we see through things like the performance management process, is a uniform group of Corporate Stars
(and we pat ourselves on the back for hiring and developing the right stuff)
but the Corporate Misfits are hidden from sight – and often internally in Denial/Avoidance of their misfit-hood.
For much of my career at Pfizer, I led work on colleague engagement, productivity and performance
(I have gone spreadsheet-blind on many occasions!)
and this data shows up in tangential ways
(because no-one ever asked “how much do you fit in?”)
Quite often, we’ll see data points around things such as:
- Purpose of my work
- Mission and vision alignment
- People are on the same page
that don’t align – at the work-group level – with items relating to performance and/or engagement. This was always a curious artifact in the data, and only really began to make sense as I crystallized my approach to helping Corporate Misfits.
So, your best performers feel like outsiders because they are – and because you/they don’t even see it.
Reason 2: What makes performance?
We are raised in a world of bell curves, Gaussian distribution, etc.
And in this world, when amplified through force-fitting in performance management processes, we believe there’s a smooth distribution of performance across the range of employees. Such thinking helps position the performance management process as fair, just and objective.
Only, it isn’t. Human performance is, by nature, messy. Down to the differences between individuals and contextual circumstances that can shift on a minute-by-minute basis.
So, what makes performance? Well, analysis upon analysis across geographies, locations and work groups showed the same pattern. There was not a single bell curve; there were three curves superimposed:
By a rough rule of thumb – 25% of the population (C) was responsible for about 30-40% of the performance.
And, for Corporate Misfits – whether self-identified or not – that performance comes from innate preferences, skills, & capabilities that are not developed or reinforced by the organization as part of regular order.
Said differently Corporate Misfits are very likely to perform well precisely because of the very things that make them feel like a Misfit.
Reason 3: Organizations don’t like weird
Let me start by saying the quiet bit out loud.
Many managers are threatened by the performance of the people they manage.
I’ll let you settle down before I continue.
Then, let me say it again: many managers are threatened by the performance of the people they manage.
We know this to be true. And, whenever there’s been a seismic shift in the world of work – the advent of personal computers, portable devices, remote working – there have been those who have used the new space to outperform peers who don’t. It just happens.
Well, a Corporate Misfit is like an ongoing seismic shift, only they’re the only one who knows it’s happening, how it’s happening, and how to use what happens.
These are people best encapsulated in the paraphrased quote from a Spaghetti Western: “I don’t know how they did it… but they sure cleaned up this town…”
So, of course, they feel like outsiders – they’re consistently doing stuff that other people can’t do or understand to deliver results that few others could hope to deliver
(and I’m not even going to mention how often the boss takes credit for the work)
And what we can do about it
First let’s revisit the graphic from earlier. Here’s the image again:
From experience, and checking in with a good number of colleagues, if we were to produce a scatter chart
(I wish I had the data, but I don’t think it’s been gathered to support this analysis)
I suspect we’d see high density in the Corporate Misfit and Dead Weight boxes, with more sparse representation in Corporate Stars and Problem Cases – i.e. the majority are either Misfits who are outperforming the rest or people just treading water in the muddy middle.
Said differently, in our 3-peak norm curve above, I suspect the majority of group C – the disproportionate performers – are very likely to be Corporate Misfits.
7 steps: It’s a start
In my work with Corporate Misfits, I talk about 7 steps:
- Name It – “hello, my name is… and I am a Corporate Misfit…”
- Know It – there are 8 types of Corporate Misfit
- Count The Cost – how it is impacting your body, mind, spirit and soul
- See The Ripples – who else is being affected by the fallout; directly or indirectly
- Face Reality – look it cold in the eye… what is the cost of not acting
- Choose Your Path
- Stay Put – become the compromise
- Jump – find a better frying pan
- Go It Alone – walk a different tightrope
- Walk Forward – a new path that you’re built to walk, not always easy, but true to you
I believe that shifting the world of work to access, ignite and receive the full benefit of Corporate Misfits starts the moment we encourage Step 1 above.
Name it. It’s a start.
Hi, I’m Vince Tuckwood and I’m a recovered Corporate Misfit – I spent 20 years building a successful corporate career while my artistic self slowly suffocated. Award-winning HR leader, all the right credentials, none of the right feelings. The whole time, that voice whispered: “this isn’t it… this isn’t you…” Turns out it was right. I left corporate in 2010 and have spent the years since helping other Corporate Misfits make sense of their own whispers. I understand the misfit experience because I’ve lived it – the mask-wearing, the pretending, the slow realization that you might be built for something entirely different…