Today’s Focus: Fighting Against Horrible Teams

I was recently having a discussion with someone about a really challenging coworker. They were not getting along with the coworker, and this is someone that they had to work with each and every day. Meanwhile, the challenging co-worker in question had previously worked on another team and had done well with those people.

When the point was raised to leadership, they were well aware of the issue with the challenging coworker, which left the person I was having the discussion with perplexed: “Why didn’t they move that person to the other team in the first place?”

We often make all kinds of interesting judgment calls in how we build the workforce and teams, but sometimes we don’t consider the knock-on impacts of those calls.

Years ago, I was working in a situation where there was a very short evaluation period and then roles were assigned after that period. As you might expect, not every assignment is a home run, and sometimes people are put into positions where they are “out over their skis.” The result for me was I was working directly for someone that was not terribly competent in their job and really should not have been in that role, but I had to make the best of it. One of my colleagues became someone that I leaned on during that time (and vice-versa) to get through it. Had I not had my colleague, I would have probably been completely miserable.

Teams are dynamic and I can guarantee you right now that you have teams, or even individuals on a team, where an honest conversation with the leadership of that team will surface that they already know that something needs to change.

• “Yes, I know she’s a bad performer, but she’s SO nice!”
• “He’s SUCH a good performer, but he’s such an A-hole.”
• “No one likes him: he has no idea how to get along with ANYONE!”

The reality is, if there needs to be a change, you need to think about the HUMAN(S) involved, and the dynamics of that team.

As I was thinking about this topic, I reached out to Catarina (Cat) Haber, Co-Founder at Business Casual, to get her take. Here’s what this leadership development professional shared:

Have you looked at things from a systems perspective yet? What is the issue, exactly?

For instance, one person acting a certain way within one team might be considered the black sheep of that group, but moved to a more appropriate team, they might flourish because it’s an entirely different team.

Or, is it a leadership issue?

• The team is not psychologically safe
• The manager has unrealistic expectations
• There’s been a bad apple that turned a previously great team into a bad one, and the manager was unable or unwilling to have the difficult conversation

The thing is, if you need to make a change, make it when you know what needs to change: Is it a team member? Is it you? Is it the manager?

If you can spot early (like in our original situation) that someone does well on a certain team, don’t shortcut things to put them elsewhere (in this case, it seems like it was a staffing capacity issue); do what you have to in order to make it the best it can be. If you need to do something temporary, fine, but don’t make your good employees suffer and have it erode the team environment: no one wins in that situation.

So, what should you do?

1. Take stock of where things are. If you are the manager, have conversations; listen, observe. What are the issues? Who is causing issues and why?
2. Are there new patterns emerging? If so, do you have any control over those situations, or, can you assist in some way?
3. Have the conversations you need to have, when you need to have them.
4. Orient and re-orient your team as needed. Take for instance Phil Jackson’s orienting of the Chicago Bulls in The Last Dance on Netflix. Every year there was a theme, and he leaned into that. Sometimes we get lost in the day-to-day: a cognitive reset and orienting towards something specific can help break that.

Still not sure, especially when we talk about difficult conversations? Here’s an additional resource from Harvard Business School to help you.

If you’ve tuned out for a bit, tune back in: your organization needs you to be a leader and rail against the things that are bringing down the team. Be brave and go for it! I’m cheering for you!

Below: a talk I did with Invest Nova Scotia (the economic development agency for the Province of Nova Scotia), talking about the concept of turbulence: how do we create turbulence from person to person, from person to team and from teams to organizations? I’d welcome your thoughts and would love to hear about your experiences.