Are You In The Behavior Modification Business?
Monday, June 8, 2015
My frustration level was growing
with each passing moment. Sitting in front of me was a highly
talented, experienced management team heatedly debating the future
employment of a long tenured “productive disruptive.” You know, that
employee who routinely “brings home the bacon”, “delivers the
goods” and “makes it happen while completely alienating fellow
workers and vendors. Now years of resentment and acrimony
came seething to the surface as his past foibles, both large and small, were
resurfaced by team members for public debate once again. Using the EOS
People Analyzer Tool the team had quickly identified the root cause of their
frustration. This high producer was clearly out of alignment with their
firm’s stated value of “Work for the Greater Good.” His past decisions and
behaviors clearly indicated his strong desire to control information and
avoid accountability. He rudely dismissed as “unprofessional meddling”
his colleagues’ suggestions for improvement. Do you see this
picture? My sense is your team probably even has its own
“productive disruptive.” Sad yet true.
Suddenly, I found myself blurting out, “OK, enough! Just answer one
question — Are you in the behavior modification business?”
“Of course not”, the CEO spoke first, “that’s
a silly question.” He was clearly annoyed at such a simple question.
“Well,’ I replied, “it sure sounds like it to me. This team has
spent the last 20 minutes discussing how to get
your "problem child” to change his behavior using incentive
plans, write-ups and warnings.” I paused. Slowly I saw the glow of
understanding sweep across team member’s faces. One member quietly spoke
up, “I get it. We have the wrong person in the right seat. He
is perfectly skilled for the position. He gets it; he wants it and
obviously has more than enough capacity to do an exceptional job. Yet he
is clearly not living our values. He is out of sync with our culture.
Sadly, we need to work out an exit strategy for him.” There was silent
agreement in the room. For no matter how hard they had tried,
they realized that they were unable to get this zebra to change his
strips. They had tried and failed repeatedly. It was a lesson hard
learned that would serve the team well in the years ahead. So, ask
yourself, “Is a “productive disruptive” forcing you and your
team into the behavior modification business?” How’s that working
out?
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