Epitome of an Unadaptable Employee

By HumanRaceHorses | November 13, 2009

Fistful of Talent edition of HR Happy Hour Rocks!

I listened to the special Fistful of Talent HR Happy Hour show last night. It was a great show. You must be sure to check it out. Somewhere during the hour, the discussion veered around to what kind of HR practitioner would be successful in the next decade. I believe it was Kelly Dingee who suggested that the generalist would be more desirable than a specialist in the decade to come. Kris Dunn addressed the topic again later. Listening to Kris talk got me thinking about the real world of work versus another favorite KD topic: the NBA.

Alan Iverson can’t handle The Truth

Actually, he can’t accept his diminishing skills or change his game to fit in with a new team. Iverson is a masterful player who has always been more concerned about his own playing time and scoring than the overall goals of his team. After a great run with the Phildelphia 76ers, Iverson has become a journeyman player, jumping from the Denver Nuggest to the Detroit Pistons to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are a perrenial NBA doormat, but they were willing to pay Iverson $3 million for this season to come off the bench as a scorer.

Matt Buser explains the details on his NBA Skinny column over on Yahoo.

Allen Iverson (notes) left the Grizzlies on Saturday after being granted a leave of absence to deal with a family matter, but now “a source” is claiming that he’s contemplating retirement while away from the team. He’s dealing with a number of issues – he isn’t interested in spending the season as a reserve, he’s had little-to-no direct communication with the team’s coach since his signing, and he’s acknowledged that he’s become a distraction to the team. A key quote that captures how AI feels about the basketball matters:

“I’m not trying to figure out how to contribute to no team. I contribute to a team by just playing. That’s it … I don’t have to figure it out. Obviously, they signed me for a reason. They’ve been watching me play this game for 13 years, and they know what I do on the basketball court, so I don’t have to figure out how I’m going to play or anything like that. I just go out and play basketball.”

Iverson has been caught in this trap before. He can no longer carry a team on his back as the primary scorer. Teams still see value in his skills and game. They are willing to trade for him and pay him pretty good benjamins to be on their team. They just want him to be a role player, provide veteran leadership. He can’t do it, not even for millions of dollars.

Inflexible Performers

What can we learn about our own employees from Iverson?

Money alone is not sufficient as an incentive to change the behaviors that drive them.
Highly successful individuals are frequently unable to modify their career objections to suit the needs of a new organization.
You need to consider the potential cost of “big ego” that could come along with that big talent hire you are making.
Workplace culture is the equivalent of team chemistry. A bad fit can be very detrimental to company and employee.
Even with interviews and open discussion, it is often difficult to determine the degree of personal alignment of a new hire with organizational goals .

One more thing about Iverson that everybody should have known, he’s always been like this, and he doesn’t like to practice. For those of you who don’t know what I mean, check out the YouTube video below where he makes his feelings on the subject very clear, repeatedly.