Specialists have vital roles, which contribute to your success and image, but which you do not understand. They tend to be less obviously motivated by climbing the greasy pole, and to value their intellectual or moral independence. Often they have the additional possibility of screwing up like Minions, only in a much bigger way (crashing the entire corporate network for example). In short, they are a containment nightmare.
There is no avoiding it, these people will take some of your valuable time away from self-promotion. You can’t afford to take your eyes off them for too long. There are some silver linings, however.
Firstly, the opinions of Specialists are generally disregarded by anybody that counts. They are not only a containment nightmare for you, they are a containment nightmare for everybody else too, due to their unfortunate tendency to point out the truth in an indiscreet way. “Jill’s department could all be replaced by a voice-response system” may be true, but Jill is unlikely to agree with it in a meeting. Jill will henceforth seek to undermine the credibility of the Specialist with this opinion, usually by ensuring that the Specialist’s views are only taken seriously when confined strictly within his/her specialism ("should we accept “*” or “#” as the decline button on the new voice-response unit?").
The most important containment strategy for specialists is to support Jill when she expresses this opinion– a tactic known as the Jack and Jill gambit. Within specialism: they add value and are important. Outside specialism: “Jack has such a deep technical role that he doesn’t really have the breadth of vision to see the wider agenda”.
Secondly, they are frequently individuals whose personalities make them ideal material for turning into Dependents (see below). As Dependents are the perfect contained staff, your problem is solved. Specialists often seem to have gone into specialist roles as an escape from their own deficiencies. Typical examples include the Nerd, the Mad Professor, the Unfortunate Loser and the Poor Communicator. Prey on their own self-perception (which is often accurate anyway) of themselves as society’s victim, by becoming their friend and supporter. (See Creating Dependents).
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