When Your Best Performer Is Holding Everyone Back

Your best performer can still be the person holding the team back. When arrogance, negativity, and disrespect silence ideas and drain morale, individual results may come at too high a cost. Strong leaders must be willing to remove the person damaging the culture, even when that person delivers impressive numbers. Once the obstacle is gone, the rest of the team may finally have the opportunity to step up, contribute, and become stronger performers themselves.

The company is chugging along and hitting its numbers. Department heads’ reports are on time. You walk by the break room and see a few folks chatting over coffee and donuts. HR doesn’t have anything burning, and accounting is clicking, so everything is fine.

That’s the problem.

Everything is fine.

It’s not great. But it’s fine. You can feel that the organization is doing okay, and it makes you uncomfortable.

What’s the issue? What’s holding the team back?

You know there’s a hurdle, but people are being quiet. You start doing what any great leader does.

You begin to listen.

There are no questions. You just listen.

The Person Changing the Room

You’re sitting in the conference room on a random Tuesday morning, and you can hear the team chattering down the hallway. They’re buzzing with ideas and brainstorming solutions until he comes through the door.

He’s a star sales rep. He bills more than anyone, but you can hear and feel how the room changes when he walks in.

He walks to his cubicle, slams down his backpack—which may explain why the company has had to buy him three new PCs in the last 18 months—and says:

“Morning, losers! The king has arrived.”

You listen, but you don’t hear anyone respond to him.

All you hear is the rhythm of fingers clicking away on keyboards.

This guy didn’t just change the mood of the room.

He robbed it of all the joy and creativity.

You know this is a problem, and a change must be made.

You don’t instantly react, but you continue to listen over several weeks. His arrogance leads the way each day. You never hear the team being built up or thanked, only demeaned.

Now you start to consider letting this guy go because he’s a cancer on the team.

The Risk of Letting Him Go

What’s your biggest worry?

This guy is your top salesman. He brings in more money than anyone else in the company.

What could happen to cash flow if you let him go?

Will the team be able to handle his workload if you release him?

Will the company find a way forward without this person on the team?

Then you’re reminded of a leadership truth.

The organization should never be dependent on just one person. After all, that’s why there’s a team.

A toxic top performer may produce impressive individual results, but those results can hide the damage being done to the rest of the organization.

What Happened Next

You make the move by dismissing the sales guy.

For the first week, you lose sleep.

But then you go back to working from the conference room so you can listen and learn.

What do you hear?

The team is talking.

They’re solving problems, serving customers, and making sales.

Instead of just one person doing all the selling, you now have a whole team.

Sales begin to grow.

Income goes up.

Attitudes improve.

More ideas begin to reach your desk.

Not just more ideas, but better ones.

Was this a risk?

Absolutely.

Was it worth it?

Yes.

If you want to build a better team, get rid of the person who is holding everyone back.

In this scenario, everyone would have said the salesperson was the A player and everyone else was a B player.

By removing the thorn that was in everyone’s side, the rest of the team rose to the occasion.

They became A players.

Be bold. Make the move.

Get rid of the jerks who think the world revolves around them.

Give the rest of the team an opportunity to prove how great they can be.

Do that, and you’ll build a better team.

Creating Unparalleled Experiences,

CHRIS ADAMS

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