要想激励有本事、有脾气的员工拿出最好的表现，里维斯建议，将他们与工作栓到一起。“不要说：‘团队必须在某某日期之前得到X结果。’应该突出他的部分：‘为了确保团队实现X，你必须达到Y。’”然后便可让其自由发挥。里维斯称：“告诉这类员工应该如何做，通常不会产生任何效果。他们自己会努力找到更好的办法，而且他们往往也的确能够做到。”

    3. 明确期望值。坐下来和恃才傲物的员工开诚布公地谈一谈，到底哪里出现了问题，不必担心太过直接。格雷厄姆•里维斯说：“不用像对待其他员工那样‘斟词酌句’，用好话来做铺垫，因为这类员工们非常清楚自己的价值。所以不妨开门见山地说：‘这是你的行为对团队其他人的影响，比如不参加团队会议，我需要你从现在开始做到这些事情。’”

    她补充道：“我们曾经对NFL的培训师进行指导。”他们的职责就是帮助将明星球员转变成负责任的团队成员。“培养新的习惯需要一点时间，但却可以让人们负起责任，并提醒他们记住，你希望看到他们的变化。”

    4. 提供尽可能多的学习机会。恃才傲物的员工比其他人更容易对工作感到厌烦（这也解释了为何他们会如此频繁地更换工作）。而且，里维斯发现，这类员工很喜欢“自己是所在领域最新、最热潮流引领者”的感觉。所以，留意最前沿的培训、有趣的会议和其他学习机会，提供给这类员工。这些机会不论成本多高，肯定低于招聘新人的代价。

    5. 不断给他们提供新的挑战。里维斯承认自己也是一名有本事、有脾气的员工。她在书中写道，自己在30岁之前曾经换过六份工作，有朝一日却突然醒悟：“当我参与新项目或遇到新问题的时候，我对工作便充满了热爱……促使我不断前进的，是新事物带来的刺激……大多数桀骜不驯的员工在一个项目结束，而另一个项目却仍杳无音讯的时候，会感到怅然若失，情绪低落。”

    正是认识到这一点，最终让她有了创业的打算，但你肯定不希望自己的HMHP员工也这么干。所以，最好的做法便是，让他始终有新鲜的谜题去解决，这样才会让他始终对工作充满热情。有恃才傲物的员工做自己的下属，有一种好处是非常确定的：他们的鲜明特点之一便是，从来不知道什么叫“加班”。

    祝你好运。

    反馈：你是否曾与恃才傲物的员工共事过，或者曾试图驾驭这类员工？你认为自己属于这类员工吗？欢迎评论。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    To bring out an HMHP's best performance, Leviss says, make it about him. "Instead of saying, 'The team has to get to X result by such-and-such a date,' focus on his part of it: 'In order for the team to get to X, you have to produce Y.'" Then stand back. "It's usually pointless to tell an HMHP how to get there," says Leviss. "He or she will just try to find a better way, and they usually can."

    3. Make your expectations clear.Sit down with your HMHP for a frank discussion of exactly what isn't working, and don't hesitate to be blunt about it. "You don't need to 'sandwich' your remarks with praise, as you might with other employees, because HMHPs already know they're extremely talented," Graham Leviss says. "So get right to the point: 'Here's how what you're doing -- skipping team meetings, for instance -- affects everybody else, and here's what I need you to start doing instead.'

    "We do this kind of coaching with NFL trainers" who must turn star players into responsible team members, she adds: "It takes a little while for new habits to form, but hold people accountable and remind them of the changes you've said you want to see."

    4. Provide as many learning opportunities as you can.High-performance employees get bored more easily than others (which helps explain why they tend to change jobs so often). They also "like to feel that they're on top of the latest, newest, hottest" trends in their field, Leviss notes. So be on the lookout for cutting-edge training, interesting conferences, and other learning experiences you can offer your HMHP. Whatever the cost, it's lower than the price of replacing him.

    5. Keep the challenges coming.Leviss, a self-confessed HMHP, writes in her book that, having changed jobs six times by age 30, she had an epiphany: "I loved my job when I was working on new projects or new problems…. It was the thrill of something new that kept me going…. Most high-maintenance employees are unhappy when a project is over and they don't have another one in sight."

    This eventually motivated her to start her own company, but you probably don't want your HMHP to do that in this case -- so make sure he never runs out of fresh puzzles to solve. A definite upside of having HMHPs around: One of their defining characteristics is that they don't know the meaning of the word "overwork."

    Good luck.

    Talkback:Have you ever worked with, or tried to manage, an HMHP? Do you think you are one? Leave a comment below.