How to deal with bad apples | Issue #187
7 ways to deal with bad apples before they rot your business
Think back through your career. I bet you’ve come across a few bad apples. People who were rude, negative or liked to gossip behind your back. Every workplace has them. Sometimes, they’re top performers from a functional perspective, but their behaviour leaves a lot to be desired.
Now let me ask you. Did you challenge their behaviour? No? Why was that? I’ll make another bet. Was it because you couldn’t face having that difficult conversation? That’s understandable. Being direct and personal is awkward. Maybe you thought it would be hard to replace this person if they left. So you continued to justify your lack of action to yourself.
Whether it’s office politics, hostile relationships or lack of trust, a negative work environment can lead to disengagement, lower retention rates, decreased productivity, and sheer misery. Everyone suffers when the atmosphere at work is hostile – employees, leadership, and ultimately the company and its bottom line.
Toxic behaviour from bad apples spreads. Before you know it, it can rot your company to its core. Don’t bury your head in the sand and hope for a miracle. Do something about it!
How to Try a New Way of Thinking with Roger Martin
If you’ve found that the way your organisation does things isn’t working for you any more, rather than flogging a dead horse, why not try a new way of thinking?
In this episode of The Melting Pot, Roger L Martin, author, advisor, speaker, and one of the world’s top business thinkers, shares how he turned Canadian Tennis around, as well how he took the Rotman School of Management and transformed it into Canada’s #1 business school, on a limited budget.
Now when company leaders come to him for help, his response is to first break the spell of their current way of thinking. But how can you transform your way of thinking?
Download and listen to this insightful episode to find out more.
Recommended Podcasts
Future Squared with Steve Glaveski
Hosted by author and entrepreneur, Steve Glaveski, Future Squared brings you conversations with preeminent thought leaders from myriad disciplines such as startups and entrepreneurship, technology, corporate innovation, psychology, philosophy, economics, politics, biology, human performance and productivity, motivation and self development, management and leadership, health and fitness and more to help you think in a multi-disciplinary way, avoid relying on the first piece of information that comes to hand, kick goals in your professional and personal life and better navigate what is fast becoming, a Brave New World.
Recommended Articles
How to develop a high-impact team
When you’re a leader building a team, sometimes you can recruit and stack the deck in your favor; this is especially likely if you work in an organization that is actively bringing in new talent. However, few corporate managers have the luxury of handpicking and assembling their dream team from the start. More often, you must create your dream team by conjuring brilliance from a group of inherited employees. In this case, it’s your job to grow the talent you already have.
Leaders, Stop Rewarding Toxic Rock Stars
Research has shown that toxic cultures are extremely costly for companies, and toxic culture was the single biggest predictor of attrition during the first six months of the Great Resignation. “Toxic rock stars,” or bullies who evade consequences because they deliver results, can ruin the workplace experience for most employees.
Over 3 decades later in his best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey repackaged Eisenhower’s insights into a simple tool to prioritize tasks, now known as the Eisenhower Matrix (also known as The Time Management Matrix, The Eisenhower Box, The Eisenhower Method, and The Urgent-Important Matrix).
Recommended Reads
CEO Excellence by Carolin Dewar, Scott Keller and Vikram Malhotra
From the world’s most influential management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, this is an insight-packed, revelatory look at how the best CEOs do their jobs based on extensive interviews with today’s most successful corporate leaders–including chiefs at Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, and Sony. To identify the 21st century’s best CEOs, the authors of CEO Excellence started with a pool of over 2400 public company CEOs. Extensive screening distilled that group into an elite corps, sixty-seven of whom agreed to in-depth, multi-hour interviews. Among those sharing their views: Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan Chase), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Reed Hastings (Netflix), Kazuo Hirai (Sony), Ken Chenault (American Express), Mary Barra (GM), and Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (Nestlé). What came out of those frank, no-holds-barred conversations is a rich array of mindsets and actions that deliver outsized performance. Compelling, practical, and unprecedented in scope, CEO Excellence is a treasure trove of wisdom from today’s most elite business leaders.
We all want to do better. Be more productive. More efficient. More successful. And we want it now. But we are already so busy. How could we possibly do more? Amplifying your personal and business performance instantly and effectively requires quick, proven, game-changing strategies. Techniques that you can implement immediately and offer fast results. Now Siimon Reynolds, world-renowned entrepreneur and mentor to the most successful CEOs on the planet, offers the win-fast, win-big tools you need to succeed. He succinctly outlines the principles you can put into practice right here and right now to maximize your time, sharpen your focus, and achieve your goals. Seemingly simple, but radical and cutting-edge, these methods will take your career and your life to the next level.
News from the farm
CEO Bootcamp with Verne Harnish and Dominic Monkhouse
What are the constraints in your business? What’s keeping you from scaling?
This September, Verne Harnish is coming to the first CEO Bootcamp in the UK to spend time with you and 9 other business leaders and their #2’s in a 4-day reinvigorating experience.
You will work closely with Verne and Dominic to address your more pressing challenges and uncover those opportunities you’re overlooking and that will truly help you move the needle in your business.
Apply today to join Verne and Dominic at Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa, near Bath (UK).
Monday 12th, September – Thursday 15th, September
MEANINGFUL ACTION FOR MONDAY
Send leavers a card asking them to keep in touch
You don’t have to end your relationship with an employee after they leave. In fact, it benefits you to end on good terms and even leave the door open for them to come back in the future. When I arrived at Peer 1, there was a culture of never allowing boomerangs. But in the UK we only lost one A-Player in 5 years and welcomed them back after 6 months away. Recently, a client also welcomed back a recent leaver. In keeping with a ‘tour of duty’ mindset, some firms go further and create an active alumni programme where they check in with former employees a few times a year and let them know of new opportunities that might be a good fit for them.
Upcoming events
Scale Up Workshop with Dominic Monkhouse – 23rd June
Are you on your way to achieving the goals to set up for this year? Is your team aligned and rowing in the same direction to execute your vision? If your answer is no, or if you hesitated, we can help. Join Dominic Monkhouse on a half-day practical session, to get away from the uproar of the everyday commercial world and look at your business afresh – to recognise your strengths, your weaknesses and your opportunities.
Quote of the week
“The culture of any organisation is shaped by the worst behavior the leader is willing to tolerate.”
Steve Gruenert and Todd Whitaker
Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.