How do you deal with trying too hard, overtly smart junior team members?

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Promote them?

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(But seriously, can you elaborate? Because if the issue is “my AAE is extremely bright and tries too hard and her ideas are spot on and she’s been here > 6 mos,” my answer is literally “help get her promoted.” But if it’s something else, my answer may be different)

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Is a little over in her head. Makes mistakes, never apologizes and always has some smart reason for missing deadlines. She thinks she is manager level, and is too eager to do “strategy work” without really doing the work she’s expected to do. Part of the problem is that she wants to delegate and delay projects.

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Well then I am sorry for being ornery, and luckily for both of us (lol), I have encountered not only this particular behavior, but also the unsubstantiated requests for advancement/salary increases that come along with it. I have explained that 1) in order to advance, you need to not only be showing that you can do SOME work above your level, but also demonstrate that you can also excel at literally ALL of the work at your level. And I’ve given examples of what that means/how he or she has fallen short. 2) I’ve also talked about time in role. I give examples of things I see and proactively do now that I would not have seen or known to do years ago (I have some go-tos), as well as the daily at-level and stretch responsibilities that I do without thinking as a manager +. I also invite them to go to LinkedIn and look at how long people take to advance both within and beyond the company, and come back to me with questions. They usually figure it out/get it then.

Let us know if this helps, and looking forward to others’ thoughts!

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Sounds like you're dealing with the classic green junior who *thinks* they know it all. Acknowledge their smarts and potential, but also their areas for improvement. And it sounds scary, but give them just enough responsibility so they get a taste of what it means to be accountable for success and failure.

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Maybe explain how the level-appropriate work feeds into the bigger picture/strategy and gives the skills to grow? Or be honest and give this feedback directly so she knows what to improve in order to do “strategy work”

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Love it! Thanks for chiming in Edelman folks.

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