Are You Accidentally Rewarding the Complaint?

Patrick Lencioni has a name for something most leaders do without noticing: the fundamental attribution error where we assume a colleague’s bad behavior comes from who they are, while excusing the same behavior in ourselves as “just a bad day.”

Simon Sinek found something similar studying high-performing teams: the most damaging person often isn’t the low performer. It’s the high performer who erodes trust. And leaders keep them around anyway, because the results are hard to argue with.

The same trade happens with negativity. A complainer who’s also sharp, capable, or outspoken in useful ways often gets more patience than the complaint alone would earn. More one-on-one time. More “let’s talk it through.” More benefit of the doubt.

That patience is the reward. And every time it’s extended, it teaches the rest of the team a quiet lesson: complaining gets you heard here, as long as you’re valuable enough to be worth the trouble.

That’s not a flaw in the employee. It’s a pattern leaders build, one exception at a time and usually without ever deciding to.

If this blind spot sounds familiar, you’re not the only leader who’s missed it. August 13th is where we break it down together. Enough Already: Combating Employee Negativity Before It Spreads. Register HERE.

The more we know, the more we grow.
Keep growing.
~Jeff