You’ve heard it before. One rotten apple spoils the whole bushel. Intellectually ,we get the wisdom in that idiom. Then, why is it so hard to effectively manage disruptive, disgruntled, or underproducing team members? I believe it boils down to fear or, better said, the lack of courage.
I recently coached a leader who was struggling with a tough decision about an important team player, one who outproduced everyone else in their department and who consistently caused trouble for other team members. He was scared to have what he deemed a hard conversation for fear of not being able to survive the outcome. But the truth was he was already living with a bad outcome—a disconnected team, high turnover due to the toxic employee, client complaints. It was a classic case of being more comfortable with the devil you know than the one you don’t yet know.
In today’s employment market, it can be downright scary to hold someone accountable for broken agreements, poor results, or bad behavior, especially if that team member is one of your most essential or highest producing players. If they quit or you fire them, the reality is that you might endure weeks or even months of an open position before you find someone qualified to replace them. The business impact could be significant. And so, as leaders and managers, we hesitate to act and make these hard decisions. But failure to make a decision is a decision, and, like all decisions, it comes with a consequence which brings us to the definition of insanity—continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different result. It takes guts and courage to say you believe in your cultural values and then actually hold the team accountable to align with them.
A contemporary example of a leader showing courage in this regard happened in December of 2022 during the World Cup Soccer match between Portugal and South Korea. Cristiano Ronaldo, the top-scoring footballer of all time, playing for the Portugal team, was substituted by Portugal’s coach, Fernando Santos, during the game. Instead of accepting the coach’s decision and walking off maturely, he threw a childlike tantrum for all to witness.
At the start of the next game (in the World Cup, mind you), Cristiano wasn’t in the starting lineup, a decision which was announced in the locker room right before the game. Coach Santos had benched the world’s best player. As 37-year-old Ronaldo sat on the bench watching, 21-year-old Goncalo Ramos took his place on the field. Ramos scored three goals in that game, but Portugal lost, putting them out of reach of the world title.
With Ronaldo on your team, the world’s best player and one known for having a temper, it would have been easy to shrug your shoulders as the head coach and say, “Oh well, that’s just Ronaldo!” But not this coach, not this leader. It couldn’t have been an easy decision. I believe it showed great courage.
If your team has a “Ronaldo,” who is not a team player or displays behavior that is not in alignment with your cultural values, I’m not suggesting you fire them. I am suggesting that “benching” them properly is a positive for them, you, and your entire team. I’m also suggesting that believing there is also a “Goncalo Ramos” available to your team should your “Ronaldo” decide not to align with your standards or decide to quit, will help create the confidence you need to make the hard decisions and hold your boundaries and standards for everyone. It’s critical that all your team members believe that no one is irreplaceable and that everyone is equally accountable to the exact same standards.
When I help a leader or manager bench their “Ronaldo,” they are often nervous, if not downright scared. What’s so amazing is that there is almost no downside to helping them have this courageous conversation. There are huge downsides to not having it. Once you have the conversation, things either get better or move more quickly to the outcome that was inevitable anyway. And almost always, if the person quits or is fired, team members seem to come out of the woodwork to thank the leader for the courage they have shown. Typically, the leader realizes only after the fact just how toxic the person actually was and the true cost of keeping that toxicity alive within their organization.
It’s almost laughable to hear the comments that are often spewed out toward the leader from the toxic person as they are leaving. Things like:
“If I go, everyone else will go with me!”
“Without me, you’ll lose all your patients!”
“If I leave, sales will fall apart!”
Here’s what actually happens. The business doesn’t fold. Sales don’t dry up. The team becomes even more productive. And with increased respect for leadership, marginal employees improve. I’ve seen teams have their best months ever following the departure of one toxic employee.
Ronaldo is still one of the all-time best players. Coach Santos is still one of the most respected coaches and managers. Who knows if they would have won the game and gone on to win the championship if he had made a different decision, but what we do know is that current and future players will know that if a cultural standard exists on Coach Santos’ team, he’ll be ready to enforce it and hold all players accountable to it, fairly and equitably.
As a leader or manager, you can have these “bench” conversations, and they don’t have to be hard. We can show you how and help you build the best team with which you have ever worked. Reach out and learn how easily you and your leadership team can grow, align, and activate a whole bushel of good apples!
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
~ Michael Jordan
