Sometimes You Have To Do A Little Pruning

I use a great analogy with clients who are struggling with the issue of toxic team members. The comparison is to gardening. When a plant is dying, it’s often one unhealthy branch or limb that is killing the entire organism. Simply prune the dead or dying limb, and the plant comes back to life and flourishes.

This applies to a team with an unhealthy member. Often, you’ll rationalize that the employee is a nice person, has been loyal, or has been at the company a long time. The truth is, if he or she is doing more damage than good, you must do a little pruning for the good of the team and the company. It’s always very difficult for us as EOS Implementers to watch what a drag a bad egg can be on a leadership team, or any team for that matter. We can only do so much to push.

Maybe you have this situation in front of you right now and you aren’t realizing it or being honest with yourself. Think about the team(s) in your organization right now. Are any bad apples spoiling the whole barrel? Do a little pruning, and the team will flourish.