A Familiar Problem
Let’s look at a couple of situations that will surely resonate
with most managers. First, consider the problem facing
Annette. (Though the cases in this article are real, the
names and identifying details have been changed.) She is
a senior designer at a large publishing and graphic design
business, with dotted-line responsibility for Colin, a
project team member. Always something of a maverick,
Colin nonetheless has a good work history. But the team
is feeling the heat because the company restructured it
to reduce costs and speed turnaround times. And Colin’s
behavior is becoming increasingly problematic, or so
Annette and Dave, the project manager and Colin’s other
boss, see it. Colin seems to be shirking work, and when he
does complete assignments, he doesn’t report back to his
bosses. To Annette, Colin’s behavior doesn’t just reflect
his inherent disregard for rules and procedures; it also
signifies a reluctance to take on further assignments.
After discussing the situation with Dave, Annette decides
that she will be the one to talk to Colin because she has
the better relationship with him.
Annette’s strategy is to motivate Colin by appealing to
his sense of responsibility to the project team. When she
meets with him and tries to get him to accept this line of
reasoning, Colin agrees to do what Annette wants. But she
doesn’t get the feeling that her argument has made any
impact. In her opinion, Colin is in his comfort zone: He
supports the other team members, even helps them to
solve their problems, but he does so at the expense of ful-
filling his own responsibilities. Annette wonders whether
Colin has become a misfit in the new structure and will
have to leave. Perhaps she should give him a formal warn-
ing at his annual appraisal. Or maybe she should transfer
him to a less demanding job, in effect demoting him.
Here’s another case. Paolo works in Eastern Europe as
a country manager for an international property devel-
oper. George, a chartered accountant with an MBA, is a
direct report whose job is to sell plots of land and develop
strategic alliances with local companies. George is fairly
new to this position, having previously worked in a back-
