“Working with Eric was a pleasure. We developed a good rapport and established a level of honesty and trust. I valued his counsel and recommendations. I find Eric to be very competent in a variety of disciplines. He is able to correctly diagnose organizational problems and suggest solutions that are on point. I found Eric to be a professional with the highest levels of honesty, integrity, and ethical behavior. I would not hesitate to engage his services again in the future.”
Kathy Lueckert,
former Corporate Services Director,
Department of Planning and Development,
City of Seattle
(Kathy is now Director of Planning and Finance for Advocacy and Communications at World Vision.)
“I've worked closely with Eric on developing and presenting the Leadership Eastside community leadership program. He has that rare blend of extensive real-world experience along with a very strong background in theory and research. He moves easily between big picture strategy and the tactical details. Eric brings a superb ability to plan, execute and follow-through, both as a behind-the-scenes planner and as an upfront instructor and facilitator.”
Annalee Luhman,
founding board member,
Leadership Eastside
Conflict and change: The blog
8 July 2009
The big problem of "bad actors"
In a 2006 paper, University of Washington business professors documented how a single negative group member can have a big negative impact on the performance of the group.
Specifically, they looked at people who didn't pull their weight ("withholders of effort"), people who express a negative mood or attitude ("affectively negative") and people who disregard the group norms for treating each other with respect ("interpersonal deviants").
The authors argue that negative team members have a stronger effect on the whole group than positive members. Withholders of effort produce feelings of inequality and reduce team performance because people don't want to look like a sucker in the face of a someone withholding. Affectively negative people's moods and attitudes turn out to be contagious. And, interpersonal deviants undermine trust by acting rudely, insulting, and making fun of others.
Each of these behaviors hurt team performance and reduce results, by undermining motivation, creativity and learning, and hoarding information. Addressing the problem is essential. This bad behavior won't just go away; it'll probably get worse.
Fixing problematic individual behavior is complicated, but any strategy would need to start with a one-on-one meeting with the individual and a specific description of the problematic behavior (not interpretations, actual observations). From there, you then describe your interpretation and ask them what's going on with them. Ultimately, you'll need to set clear behavioral expectations and be prepared to call the person out if they transgress again. If the pattern continues, you'll need to escalate your response accordingly.
Whatever you do, don't let the bad behavior continue unchecked. It is destroying your team and their results!
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