This blog was written for Dutch Giftedness Week, March 4-12, 2023 by
Kim Castenmiller and Dirk Anton van Mulligen.
Please note: As the article was originally written in Dutch,
some links refer to Dutch webpages and some images contain Dutch words.

As a gifted person, you do not always have an easy time in a large organization. You notice a lot, feel even more, and would like to contribute to something bigger than what is defined in your formal job description. Your 'clock speed' is also sometimes a lot higher than the rest of the system, the people, and the procedures, so you can get out of sync. Often, you pull everything and anything besides your actual work to yourself, to keep things running smoothly or to make necessary improvements possible. Your actions frequently prevent problems to occur or become more serious, which is something that is not always visible for others and therefore stays unacknowledged. Especially when you do not have the right certificates or political dexterity.

It is not only a lack of understanding of giftedness in yourself and your company that can get in the way. It is also the lack of a formal position that reflects what your unique contribution to the organization is, including the corresponding playing field and mandate. Especially now that the challenges in so many areas of our lives and in so many organizations are so great, it is important that society takes the innovative potential of gifted people seriously and formalize it in the workplace. This is a challenge for an egalitarian country like the Netherlands, but something we cannot avoid if we want to make an evolutionary leap in the right direction.

Foreword

We have been working together for many years and for a number of years also explicitly on the subject of Giftedness, including in the Analysis of the Giftedness Education Support System - region of Central Brabant. We are both gifted ourselves and parents of gifted children. With all the challenges that come with it. Three times before we published on the occasion of The (Dutch) Week of Giftedness. Dirk Anton wrote about what it's really like to be gifted in 'Gifted, a curse and a blessing’ (in Dutch) in 2020. In 2021, Kim wrote about the gifted stay-at-home performer in ‘Smart but Not at School’ (in Dutch). The rollercoaster ride in which parents of gifted children can end up, was the subject of our joint blog 'When the first stone tumbles’ (in Dutch) in 2022.

Originally, the two of us facilitate organizational change, focusing on culture, cooperation, and leadership. We look at people and organizations from an evolutionary perspective and are seeing more and more that existing systems have reached the end of their life cycle. Gifted people can form the vanguard of much-needed fundamental innovation, but then we will have to nurture, strengthen, and give them formal space where they can thrive. That is where our knowledge, skills and drive come together and for which the time has come. And thus, the topic of our contribution to the Giftedness Week in 2023.

Please note: this blog certainly does not apply to all gifted people, but it does apply to an important part of them that has been waiting in the wings long enough and is now needed in the heart of the action. They can accept the gauntlet, but it must be made available now.

GIFTED MAVERICK

Gifted people do not automatically excel in organizations. As with gifted children achieving academic success (they are smart and can learn easily, right?), the obvious success is also a myth when it comes to the gifted adult as a professional. There are few reasons for this. Starting with the fact that there is a group of gifted adults who struggles with integrating their gifts in themselves. Also, a sizeable number of gifted adults is unaware that they are gifted. An important topic that we also addressed in our blog from last year: many parents of a gifted child discover their own giftedness through the child. Another reason that (work) success is not self-evident is that the gifted adults are not always acknowledged by their employers as gifted, and there is often a difficulty to be placed in the right position. For example, the 'self-made' ICT professional who keeps the backbone of a bank's digital infrastructure afloat without ever getting the necessary degrees. We meet professionals who have started 'with only an pre-vocational secondary education degree ' on the work floor and have managed to make themselves indispensable to a company. Only to get stuck in the middle of their career, because 'what am I worth on the job market without a degree?'

BUITEN BEENTJE (or OUTLIER) from Strijp-S, Eindhoven. © Dirk Anton van Mulligen, 2016.

The 'unorthodox' and often outside the box mindset of gifted persons can be difficult to follow for their environment, colleagues and managersalike. Sometimes right down to the level of the incomprehensible: a strong intuition or being able to see right through things without all the background knowledge is unfathomable to many. The intensity associated with giftedness can also be misinterpreted and provoke irritation in an environment where self-management (or self-restraint down to the unemotional) is of paramount importance. In short, the gifted person is regularly not understood, or even perceived as a threat. 'You are going too fast', 'you are thinking five steps ahead'. What they actually mean is 'You're going too fast for me, seeing through too much and I cannot keep up with you and that makes me insecure.' Gifted people can therefor trigger feelings of incompetence or discomfort in others.

Now, giftedness as a label is sometimes debated in society, but acknowledging it often offers an entrance for the gifted person to get a grip on his or her own potential and to gain insight into how the potential can be converted into tangible contributions and results. For the environment, explicit recognition of giftedness is also important. Now, it is not always safe enough for the gifted person to expose himself and to take up necessary professional space. The 'neurodiversity networks' within organizations and the Inclusion and Diversity policy from the HR departments, certainly contribute to recognition of giftedness in the workplace, but at the same time this is not sufficient. Because in doing so, giftedness within the organization becomes a matter, exclusively, of the organizational culture. And that is a missed opportunity.

THE WHITE RAVENS

In our 2012 book, Future proof your organization (Geef je organisatie toekomst, in Dutch), we did not explicitly speak of ‘gifted innovators’ but we called them ‘white ravens’. These – so to speak - misfits are rarely found in the middle of the system, but at the edges of it: You do not see them much in the staff or line positions that are traditionally occupied by the 'gatekeepers' of the system. In stable times there is little wrong with that, but given the challenges we face, within the society but also within the average – certainly the larger – company, another approach is necessary.

Nowadays it is clear that there are more contributing elements to giftedness than solely a high IQ (above 130). Not all gifted people are the same. There are big differences in how their intelligence and talents are expressed, and just as some gifted children are not necessarily school smart, some gifted adults are not necessarily work smart. And by that we mean ‘not well adapted to the system of 'work' that has been developed in the industrial age’. Whether that might even be a positive sign of evolution, is for a different discussion. In any case, not being ‘work smart’ is inconvenient within the society in which we live today.

A number of gifted people also find it difficult ‘to sell’ themselves. Sometimes because they think their results should speak for themselves, but sometimes also because their creative strength lies in areas other than the verbal, logical-mathematical or the interpersonal. We help gifted people make their contribution and working method explicit, unmistakably clear.

For us, giftedness fits in with the evolutionary step we are now taking as humanity, a step we must take to ensure a liveable future for us all. It is also a step in which a number of gifted people fulfill the difficult and not always grateful role of pioneer. That is why we first focus on assessing what emerges as one’s unique creations through a person’s specific giftedness before looking into what that creation can contribute to one's organization, or even to today's society as a whole. A too early adaptation to the wishes and limitations of the existing system leads to frustration and underutilization of potential. An independent spirit and non-conformist action is something that we encounter in number of gifted people and that requires space and mandate to bring the necessary progress.

A White raven in action: Police Chief Paul van Musscher

An example of an outspoken non-conformist initiative that was initially received with raised eyebrows, but turned out to work well in practice, comes from Chief Police Unit the Hague Paul van Musscher. The Hague is a special city, not only because it is the seat of the Dutch government and home to the King, but also because of its international position with various special organizations, such as the International Court of Justice, the European Patent Office, and the various embassies. In the early 10s, The Hague suffered from a great nuisance from ‘confused’ people: They had more than their hands full. Van Musscher produced the idea of Shelter for Confused Persons (abbreviated in Dutch: OVP), located within (!) Police HQ itself: "A branch of Parnassia with 24/7 psychiatric care in the middle of the head office. A unique concept that was made possible in part by agreements with underlying care organizations, such as the Brijder-foundation for addiction care, which did not give 'no' for an answer to patients from the OVP. The police men and women on the street did not have to do any triage in this way. If they felt it was necessary, people could go to the OVP instead of being locked up in a police cell. Professional and expert help came immediately."

Van Musscher is one of those rare white ravens who succeeds actualizing his giftedness to a great extent. He does this in an environment that requires great stability and predictability and where innovation is usually realized with steps that go less far outside the box.

A NEW PLACE FOR the GIFTED: FROM MAVERICK TO FORMAL POSITION

Especially when an organization is faced with major challenges, which cannot be solved with singular solutions resulting from one discipline or model, and is ready for innovation, it is important to fully exploit the potential of gifted people in the organization. In daily practice, we see that they often already play a different and larger role than that for which they were formally hired. They have a (mostly self-created) informal and free role from which they also have a lot of influence. To fulfil this role, they often need information above their paygrade: information that in the eyes of others often does not belong to their work but makes it possible for them to exert informal influence. Usually, they know how to organize it in such a way that they actually get it. However, playing an informal role only gives one limited impact. It is and remains without obligations. Not to mention the frustration it can bring of seeing opportunities, but not having the position (with mandate!) to achieve breakthroughs in the organization. We have heard number of white ravens sigh 'they no longer feel like conforming to, and covering for, other people's dysfunction'.

With their natural attunement to complexity, gifted white ravens can connect the big picture to the primary process. They can bring realistic innovation. Not top-down, but integrative, because they are often strategic and executing at the same time. It is time to really use this potential and to ensure that these white ravens not only get space but also the corresponding formal position.

“What you need now are fresh, independent minds who have a heart for the matter and experience with the primary process. (...)
the real innovators that look where no one else is looking.”

— Geef je organisatie toekomst, p44.

So what can this look like? We advocate creating new key positions for the gifted white raven. So that their influence receives formal recognition and can penetrate the capillaries of the system. So that there will be real and realistic innovation. But where should these key positions be placed in the hierarchy? Most organizations still have traditional structures and a distinction between staff and line management. There is also often a separation of functions between policymakers and the execution. However, gifted people tend to be paradoxical personalities: they are extroverts and introverts at the same time, see the bigger picture, have an excellent eye for detail, and 'understand' the daily practice of the workplace. That has implications for the kind of position that suits them best. That is neither staff nor line management, neither policy nor implementation. A position on the staff is too far removed from the primary process, in the line management they are too bogged down in the hierarchy, often confronted with the necessary office politics which is usually not their forte.

Gifted people often benefit from a position between staff and line management, on a project- or program basis. With a solid (and cross-border) mandate. Gifted people are not necessarily suitable as CEOs or top executives of larger organizations. Not because they would not have the professional baggage or characterological qualities to do so, but because hierarchy is often not so appealing to them. Having the 'greatest' influence, without the political and hierarchical hassle, is much more attractive. A position between line management and staff as the third way. In a smaller organization, or when they own the organization, this is different. Then a 'ceo' position often fits well.

Gifted Innovators require a formal position, usually a blend of a line and staff position.

CHOOSing A SUITABLE ROUTE of Innovation

Once in such a position: How can the gifted innovators achieve results? In our book (in Dutch) ‘Geef je organisatie toekomst’, we offer the reader three routes of change:

Route 1: Top-down and bottom-up. The gifted innovator who has an experience in organizations knows better than anyone else that imposed top-down change rarely works. The top-down approach can be used by an organization for giving a vision or direction or even an assignment, but the implementation must come from bottom-up. This is how the inclusive school Het Anker started: built from the grass-roots level with an administrative assignment.

Route 2: Oil spill. A program role is ideally suited to realize innovation within the organization. A team has been set up in the Municipality of Tilburg, with a mandate from the top management, to break through system patterns that get in the way of the movement to do the right thing. With an action-oriented breakthrough approach, based on patterns that give executive professionals stomach pains, breakthroughs are worked on. It is precisely on complex patterns that movement is created, by bringing people together across the organization to produce innovative ideas and approaches. This method is not imposed, but anyone can bring an issue to the so-called breakthrough table. When there are patterns in it that, when you break them, have a major impact, they are picked up by the head within the municipality. In this way, change can spread like a fire.

Route 3: Starting over/anew. There is more possible in terms of change and innovation in or on the edge of an existing organization than you might initially think. For example, we know the example of the Start-up school, an intermediary vocational education, which is not embedded in the regular organization but in the Strategy department. This position helps this training to really start from a new foundation without the regular organizational influences and control.

The three routes of change also have three types of gifted people that fit in with this. With the Your Evolving Self assessment, we look at things such as: non-conformist action, independent attitude, drive and how someone responds to opportunities, and link that to his creative power. The overall picture tells which route suits which person best. Different strokes for different gifted folks.

To change an organization from within, the first route, there are limits to how nonconformist one can function as a change agent. But also, this route places extra demands on the ability to win others over and to create a movement. Something for which you need a strong interpersonal and verbal talents.

The second route is suited to people who are highly driven and can manage the complexity of different intertwined projects at the same time while keeping oversight but are not so extreme in their independent attitude that they lose touch with the organization. Highly analytical, result-oriented and with enough power to break down the walls between organizational silos.

Those suited best for the third route are very independent, enterprising gifted people. In addition to the obvious qualities, the change agent must have a strong intrapersonal slant. Knowing yourself well - your goals, motivations, qualities, and pitfalls - and being able to sail on your own course for a long time: That is not a given for every gifted individual.

“I am an eccentric, I admit it. But I am not a nutcase!”

— Zaha Hadid

If you as an organization choose a certain change route and you have found the person who fits in, then take care of the formal embedding. Create the position with the mandate that goes with it and communicate that. We wrote it earlier: Gifted people fit into a position that is a blend between line management and staff. They get bogged down completely in the line and the frustration of working for micromanagers, who cannot analyze at the same level as they can, arises. In a staff position, they are too far removed from the primary process where their heart often lies. To put it more simply: In the line management they feel locked up and, in the staff, they lose sight of why they ever started working in the first place. Choose the formal place in the organization with care.

ORGANIZATIONS UP TO THE TASK

We see among gifted people we work with that they hold the promise as a vanguard of change, of evolution even. But this promise also requires something from the gifted person himself and from the organization in which he or she works. It is up to the gifted person to exert more influence than to be influenced, let alone being changed. Becoming part of an organization means exposing yourself to the socialization that occurs as soon as you start working. You have to participate in company onboarding programs from HR, onboarding programs on the work floor and get acquainted with the organizational culture. But it is up to the gifted person to use their own giftedness, and to perceive and not to fall into the pitfalls of adapting too fast. To keep the change potential intact to be used later in the organization, independent positioning is a great asset.

“Operationalizing giftedness in organizations requires much more than just knowledge of giftedness.”

At the same time, it requires from the organization that wants to make serious work of giftedness to be changed by the gifted person’s influence. Instead of socializing the gifted and enlisting them in a pinching position. That means stopping accepting that they are the gifted maverick with room for an informal and therefore non-committal role but acknowledging and allowing them to have an impact by supporting them in a position with a mandate. Put your money where your mouth is.

Effectively embedding gifted people in organizations and especially giving them a flywheel function for developments is not easy. This involves a lot of organizational, leadership and HR knowledge. For example, we have often seen that gifted people can break down when they must deal with micromanagers. That is the type of manager that fits within an organization where control is required, but for gifted people that does not provide the context in which they can utilize their potential for an organizational change. Take an example like top footballer Lionel Messi. As a coach, the manager, you build the team around him, so that he can flourish and you get the results. If you force Messi to strictly adhere to his duties, a lot of potential is lost. Certainly, in The Netherlands we have the tendency to do the latter.

LEARN young, use for life?

We wrote it earlier, gifted children bring some parents into contact with their own (often unrecognized) giftedness. Giftedness in children is increasingly recognized, especially when they enter education. Just like within organizations, recognition is one thing, but really providing children with appropriate opportunities to develop their potential is the biggest challenge we face when it comes to gifted education. Many initiatives aim at supporting children when they get stuck and are therefore curative rather than preventive in nature. Prevention of jams and (school) dropouts are receiving increased attention. That is how we move upstream.

Slide made for ‘Optimal Development for the Gifted’ Inspiration Day, Tilburg, Netherlands, March 1st 2023.

In the book Kim is working on (in Dutch), she talks about Rena F. Subotnik. Subotnik is well past seventy and still works, among other things, as an author and researcher in the field of educational psychology with gifted education. Subotnik's focus has changed over the years: she became less interested in the abilities of the gifted and more interested in what they do with them. Exactly what our approach is as well. Subotnik is leading in the 'eminence movement': gifted education not so much focused on what the student needs at that moment but focused on preparing special or outstanding innovators and groundbreaking pioneers.

“We cannot know how much talent has been lost for lack of discovery and development, nor can we assess the magnitude of that loss to our society – the music that was never composed, the medical cure that was never discovered, the political strategy that might have averted a war. Undetected ability is an immense loss to society, the pain borne by the individual is beyond measure.”

— Linda Silverman, Giftedness, 2013.

Undiscovered and unused potential affects society and affects us all. Gifted children and young people could oversee complex issues and produce creative solutions. Given the increasing complexity in the world and the different complex issues we face, we cannot afford to lose this very potential. There is a caveat here: it is important not to put great (performance) pressure on children. Developing into that inventor or groundbreaking pioneer must be an organic and logical development. Not an imposed one. But when we nurture the potential especially in young children, there is a basis for flourishing later.

There is another reason we need to be careful about the potential of gifted children because of the value and potential that lies within them. In 2019, Silverman writes in an article about the moral sensitivity of gifted children and their importance to the evolution of society. If we want moral leaders, we will have to understand and cherish the inner world of the gifted. Assisting them in their self discovery, not telling them what we think is right, not imposing our world view on them. It is from there where higher value systems evolve; Silverman argues. This applies to the gifted children but just as much to the gifted people in organizations.

Finally

For years we have seen in organizations that gifted people have fulfilled a sometimes unappreciated role as pioneers, without being sufficiently facilitated, supported, or placed in a significant position within the organization. Organizations increasingly recognize that a bridge must be made to a new time so to speak. A time in which people use different working approaches to tackle complex issues and to renew their own often outdated organization. This means letting go of the tendency to encapsulate the gifted white raven in the old system, which can damage them, but give this evolutionary vanguard space. The common criticism that: 'everyone has talent' and 'why give them an exceptional position', is not helpful. There is little elitist about it because it is a heavy task laid on them and often an unappreciated position. But as Neo answered Mr. Smith in The Matrix Revolutions to the question 'Why Mr. Anderson, why do you do it, why do you persist?': 'Because I choose to'. And so will the gifted vanguard.