You’re a good leader. Your team is successful, but there is that one team member who is always contrary, always causes trouble, and who is keeping your team from reaching the high levels you know they’re capable of.
What do you do?
This can be a complex subject. Here are a few steps that will often take care of the issue.
• Find out why this person is a problem. Is there an incident in the past that soured them to the team or the company? For instance, do they feel their contributions are not fully appreciated? If you learn the reason behind their behavior you may be able to help them resolve the problem.
• Let them speak. If they are always negative, let them have their voice. They may have something valuable to contribute even though it seems like they’re just belligerent. But, don’t just let them spout off. Make them defend their position. Sometimes that will overcome just being a malcontent and help them become a more contributing member of the team.
• Always be prepared to intervene. Although you want to give this person a voice and help them become a more functioning member of the team, you must still be ready to stop them if they become belligerent or foment bad conflict. At the same time, be aware of the rest of the team and their reaction. Other team members may try to shut off the negative person.
• Carefully document everything. Good records are essential.
But what if these steps don’t work? You probably have a toxic team member. A note of caution. Make sure the person really is toxic to the team. Just because they disagree with someone else’s ideas or are having a bad week doesn’t make them toxic. You shouldn’t reach any conclusion until you have carefully completed the above steps.
As much as you would like your team to be a smoothly integrated group, one person can damage and even destroy the cohesiveness of any team. Toxic team members are argumentative, abrasive, abusive, and bullying. You must tackle this problem as early as possible.
But how?
There are a series of steps that will lead you to a solution.
• Review the previous steps and the careful documentation you’ve accumulated thus far.
• If those steps have failed, it’s time to be very upfront with the individual. Inform them that their behavior and actions are damaging the team and you cannot allow that. This is primarily a one-way conversation. Don’t let yourself be distracted by any disagreement, whining, or anger. You have passed that point.
• Give them a definite written list of changes you expect to see and a time frame for completion. Again carefully document everything.
• Hopefully you will begin to see changes in this person, but if you don’t, it’s time to discuss your options with your HR and possibly legal teams.
It’s satisfying to be able to help a problem team member, but it isn’t always possible. Remember, your job is to lead the team and fully support your team members. That doesn’t mean trying to help a person who doesn’t want to be helped.
No matter how critical you may think a person is to your team, or what skills they possess, their toxic behavior is far more damaging. No one is irreplaceable.
If it’s time to admit that you cannot fix the situation, don’t consider that a failure on your part. In fact, it is a success as you have removed an obstacle to your team becoming more productive and effective.