How to manage smart people

Managing smart people requires the ability to understand the talent of each individual and to be comfortable with the fact that some people might be brighter than you are. You need to learn to encourage smart people and provide conditions for them to develop their skills and talents further. Your team members should respect you and be happy to be led by you. Here are some tips to manage smart people in your team:

• Create an environment to promote good ideas to encourage smart people to contribute. Reward generously. Hire people that are self-motivated and confident.
• Give smart people challenges. Talented people tend to get bored easily. You will benefit greatly from paying close attention to your top performers.
• Find out as much as you can about characteristics and personalities of smart and skilled people in your team. The more you understand them, the better you can respond to their requests and lead them.
• Smart people do not cope well with bureaucracy. So, simplify rules and policies. By freeing smart people from administrative tasks, you can refocus their energy on the most challenging problems of the organisation.
• Protect clever people from organisational politics as much as you can. Smart people rarely want to deal with office politics.
• Understand what motivates your top performers. If they are not intellectually challenged and inspired by organisational purposes, they will leave you.
• Keep them informed about what is going on in the organisation to make them feel as a part of the organisation. This also reduces the risk of communication misinterpretation among your team members.
• Demonstrate that you are an expert in one or many areas in one or many areas that can help them to accomplish their tasks.

— Agencies