What is Purple Unicorn
A “purple unicorn” in the workspace means finding the perfect, one-of-a kind employee with exactly the right skills and qualities for a job, which can be quite rare. Moreover, just like how a purple unicorn might sound imaginary or unique, similarly, employees often use this term to express how challenging it is to find that ideal candidate.
Table of content:
Benefits of Purple Unicorns
- Idea Generator
- Team Cheerleader
- Winning Advantage
- Troubleshooters
- Team Play Pro
Purple unicorns are like idea machines, they come up with cool and different ways to think, making work more interesting. They are like cheerleaders of the team encouraging everyone to do their best, having them around makes the team better.
Companies that have purple unicorns become better than the rest. The special skill these people bring helps the company make awesome things that set them apart from others in the market. In addition, purple unicorn is like. Superhero. When things go wrong, they are good at fixing tricky problems that others might find tough.
This is not just it; the best part is when they nicely share ideas with their teammates and work smoothly with them, it is like playing a good game for a team.
Downsides of Purple Unicorns
- High Expectations & Pressure
- Difficulty Finding
- Team Dynamics
- Dependency Issues
- Costly
It is evident now that everyone who sees the purple unicorn as extraordinary, there can be a lot of pressure on them to always perform at their best. This can be stressful and might lead to burnout. Another thing is, because these qualities are rare to find, it can be hard and time-consuming to find the right person, this can lead to delaying projects or even the hiring process.
A major problem comes when a specific member or the team might feel overshadowed or perhaps struggle a lot with purple unicorns’ capabilities. This sometimes leads to a sense of competition. On the contrary, teams could rely on the purple unicorn, which could cause a problem. Let us suppose the purple unicorn is absent or on leave, then the team can struggle to fill the gap.
And lastly, the cost! Hiring and retaining a purple unicorn can be expensive. They often come with high salary expectations and may retain due to attractive offers from other companies. This can strain the company’s budget.
How to foster Purple Unicorn in a workspace?
- Give a chance to people to take on new challenges. This can help them discover and develop skills they didn’t know they had.
- It is better to pair an experienced team member with those who are eager to learn.
- Make sure employees are happy and healthy. Programs like gym access or mental health support can help.
- Encourage people to talk openly and share their thoughts and ideas without making a conflict.
- Provide flexible work arrangements. This allows individuals to balance work and personal life.
Why should you target purple unicorns when recruiting?
You can never go wrong when you hire a purple unicorn for your business for these reasons:
- Tech-savvy people bring new ideas and a fresh point of view to the table to help solve problems and push the limits at work.
- They can adapt to the work setting or even change it for the better because they have a wide range of skills.
- They can lead growth by making things more competitive, which is seen as a good thing. They make the business stand out in the market.
- They can create a mindset of always getting better and reaching their full potential.
- Because of this, it is best to hire them because they will bring a useful problem-solving attitude to the team, help solve problems quickly, and have an impact on the company.
The 5 S’s to activate Purple Unicorn
By activating these “5 S’s” – Strategic Alignment, Skill Development, Supportive Culture, Strategic Recruitment, and Sustainable Retention – organizations can create an environment that not only attracts but also nurtures and retains purple unicorns, ensuring their ongoing success within the organization.
Conclusion
Overall, purple unicorns are people who are rare with extremely good talent in a work area. They bring idea and make the team better and give the company an advantage. However, it is not always easy since everything has its pros and cons, and this means there are chances of high expectations and teams’ issues.
To overcome these, we should generate positivity, allow employees to talk clearly, offer chances to learn and create a friendly atmosphere. Real-life examples show that having diverse teams and supporting people grow helps these special talents rise and shine.
So, in the fast and competitive work world, being flexible with how we find and keep these amazing people is super important!