5 ways to manage the prima donna

We've all encountered them. Prima donnas are those employees who swagger into meetings, convinced that rules are made for everyone else. They dispense tons of advice and ideas, but when it's time to jump into the trenches to dig, they're otherwise engaged.

"They are often visionaries, highly creative and they don't have good interpersonal skills," says Linda Finkle, a Potomac, Md.-based executive coach for small businesses. "The prima donna is often the person who is very good at his job and holds his employer hostage by this."

That's the rub, of course. Prima donnas are typically star performers. She's the salesperson who racks up monthly records. He's the IT hero who pulls off on-time delivery.

What's a boss to do?

It's tricky. You want to support the peak performance, offering challenges that sharpen the prima donna's stellar skills. Simultaneously, you must rein in hurtful or inappropriate behavior and be careful that the prima donna doesn't outrage customers or alienate other workers.

To retain the best traits and lose the rest, check out these five ways to manage a prima donna's performance. Included are guidelines to help figure out when there is an arrogant so-and-so who crosses the line and should be sent packing.

1. Feed the need. First, acknowledge the obvious and make a considered choice. This is an employee who requires extra handling. Too many business owners ignore that. "As an executive, you need to make a strategic decision that will make everything else fall into place: Are you willing to make them feel special? Or, do you have a sense of 'fairness' and want to treat this person the 'same' as everyone else?" says Kristin J. Arnold, a Fairfax, Va., management consultant who specializes in high-performance teams.Upfront, be ready to invest the individual time and attention that will yield the business benefits you want. If you've sidestepped the issue, or made a choice by default, you have only yourself to blame - not the employee - for the frustrations or lost customers that may follow.
2. Find the key. Outwardly, prima donnas tend to behave in similar ways, but their internal motivations differ. Management experts suggest that you look for what makes such employees tick. Some may crave more recognition for their higher achievements or creativity. Others will respond to compensation or flexibility, such as a bonus, time off or work-at-home privileges. Rewards can be geared accordingly, but ought to be conditioned, of course, on ongoing respect for co-workers and on an acceptance of any other rules or policies you set.
3. Build fences. There are a couple of ways to do this. One idea is to isolate the prima donna, assigning him or her to some crucial lone-ranger project that will boost his ego and keep him from disrupting other employees. For many such high-energy workers, this is just the ticket. For instance, one Phoenix, Ariz., programmer, a self-confessed "rehabilitated" prima donna has this to say:"Prima donnas are a different breed. We're good and we know it.... And as far as management goes, you can keep it. I may have learned how to contain myself, but I have no desire to learn politics, deal with idiots or hear how someone has a better cube than someone else. Just give me work and leave me alone."Another kind of fence keeps the prima donna corralled rather than walled off. Make him work within a team. Because prima donnas always think they know the best solution and because they prefer ideas to implementation, they tend to wander off the path. If you put the prima donna on a project that requires a team, you can focus his efforts, basically herding him or her into moving in the right direction.
4. Check the heart. Arrogance or rough edges is one thing. Actively working against the business is quite another. The most important thing in managing creative types that have "prima donna characteristics" is to "determine where their heart is," says Tim O'Brien, who runs his own communications company in Pittsburgh. Does the prima donna want the organization to succeed? Does he want you, the boss, to fail? "I managed a couple who actively worked to undermine my authority, including end runs and efforts to sabotage my position. I fired them because their actions were so blatant and none of the management guru stuff applied," O'Brien says.
5. Make them accountable. There's no room for high performers with faulty ethics or a disregard for policies central to the company's mission. If customer service is your watchword, and the prima donna makes customers feel bad, he's got to clean up his act, no matter what his level of genius. Otherwise, you'll develop a companywide problem."Integrity is the root from which morale, teamwork, customer satisfaction, sales and profits spring," says Joanne Cini, author of "Kingmaker: Be the One Your Company Wants to Keep... On Your Terms."

Before throwing in the towel, try to adjust the prima donna's behavior. "Handle it like a performance problem by first meeting with the prima donna to discuss the problem and offer coaching," suggests Joe Santana, co-author of "Manage I.T." Set a deadline for change, define the changes you want, and then make the prima donna responsible for making those changes within the time frame.

Peer evaluations or 360-degree performance reviews (always anonymously collected) can also help. Sometimes stars are unaware of the negative impact of their behavior.

Give it time and make sure to offer feedback and rewards for small victories. It will take several weeks and, for some, a few months before prima donnas change their behavior. If you see sincere efforts under way, be tolerant.

But when that deadline rolls around, if the same old "I'm special" performance takes center stage, get rid of the prima donna. And, presumably, you've made good use of the intervening time by grooming a replacement.