Team members sometimes act defiantly when they are protected by bureaucracy, a senior mentor, a critical client relationship, or deep institutional knowledge.
They come to believe they are immune from termination or sanction. They do what they want when they want to do it, ignore the team leader, and set their own course. In the most extreme cases, wayward team members can become a nightmare for the team leader who looks powerless in the face of willfully insubordinate behavior.
Good leaders do everything in their power to gain traction with such a defiant team member and make every attempt to bring them back into the fold. Unfortunately, appealing to the good nature of such a team member often empowers them to be even more resistant and hostile to playing along.
So, what can a leader do?
Before giving up and accepting this reality or ferociously fighting to terminate this team member, often at a cost to your own reputation, consider the unusual strategy of exclusion to reset the negative attitude.
Perhaps nothing is more coercive to a team member than excluding them from the team. This means disinviting them from meetings, excluding them from updates and information, and asking them to sit out from team experiences and activities.
The initial response to exclusion is usually one of jubilation on the part of the wayward team member. They interpret being uninvited as winning and often gloat that they no longer must partake in what they perceive as wasteful time with the team.
As time goes on, the power of being a social being, first and foremost, sometimes takes precedence.
Exclusion soon hurts their pride, confidence, and sense of well-being. They may begin to view the consequences of exclusion as a punishment and not a reward. In the best scenarios, they begin to ask for ways to get involved and to reengage with the team. A massive shift in attitude can occasionally take place as a result.
While this strategy doesn’t always work, as a last resort, it is worth a try. Before giving up and either tolerating their negative demeanor or marching them out of the organization, consider the drastic but highly effective tactic of exclusion.
The hope is that exclusion may work to crystalize what really matters for those with a recalcitrant attitude. As a catalyst for resetting a rebellious and obstinate team member, exclusion offers a unique strategy that can sometimes work wonders.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
