Status Consulting started 7 years ago when five consultants from a range of companies joined forces to combine their intellectual talents and entrepreneurial skills to deliver innovative solutions at a strategic level to clients in the financial services sector. In the early days the five founders reveled in spending time together, brainstorming ideas to come up with the best possible solutions for clients. Today, while they still work well together, drawing on one another’s strengths, their roles have changed as the business has grown. Status is now considered to be a medium-sized consulting firm, employing 115 consultants who are organized into divisions of 10 to 15 people under the management of a divisional leader.
It has come time for staff bonuses to be paid at Status and Sue Jackson, the divisional leader of the Technology Services Division (TSD) division, is faced with a dilemma of what to do with one of her “high-flying loners”. Daniel Brook is an incredibly driven, highly motivated individual who had been recruited to Status 6 months ago after receiving his Masters in Information Technology at a local university (with distinction). The Managing Director of Status had personally interviewed Brook, and had immediately recruited him sighting him as an “exceptional talent”.
Brook had been placed in Jackson’s division and she had immediately allocated him to a key account on his second day and asked him to start customizing the CRM package to meet the client’s strategic needs. Although Brook was unfamiliar with the Status CRM system, he taught himself the intricacies of it by working exceptionally long hours for the first three months. His initiative had impressed Jackson enormously. Jackson soon discovered that she did not need to spend much time with Brook, who preferred simply to get on with the job with little guidance or instruction. This suited her as she disliked having to deal with demanding staff members.
In preparing for the performance appraisal & bonus payout, Jackson had recognized two conflicting viewpoints regarding Brook. The clients he worked on loved his work which they said was delivered on time and within budget. On the close of project evaluation sheet, one client had commented that “his solutions exceeded our expectations”. Brook’s ratio of billed hours to billable hours was up at 92% — the second highest in the firm, although he had only been there for 6 months.
On the other hand, Brook was proving to be a divisive force in the division. Although he was keeping the clients satisfied and ensuring a stream of income for the firm, no one else in the team appeared to like him or trust him.
In addition Jackson had frequently fielded complaints about his self centeredness and failure to co-operate with other team members.