The Most Expensive Conversation Is the One You Don’t Have

Most leaders aren’t afraid of hard work. They’re afraid of one hard conversation.

They know exactly who it is. They’ve known for months. And they keep waiting for the problem to fix itself.

Researchers Will Felps, Terence Mitchell and Eliza Byington placed an actor in small work groups to play the slacker, the jerk, or the pessimist. Groups with that one person performed 30 to 40 percent worse. Even worse, the rest of the team started acting like him.

Anyone who has let one invasive plant go “just one more season” knows how that ends.

When you avoid the hard conversation, your good people pay for it. They pick up the slack, absorb the attitude, and wonder whether you notice. Say your standards are high, then let them slide for one person, and your actions and words no longer match. Your best people see it first. And they’re the ones with options.

Does that mean you cut someone loose tomorrow? No. In landscape, there’s a big difference between pruning and pulling. Most of the time the answer isn’t removal. But it’s never neglect.

There are a few questions great leaders ask themselves before that conversation. That’s what I’ll walk through on November 5.

Until then, write down the name of the person you’ve been avoiding. Then write down what it’s costing your team every week you wait. The second list is usually longer.

Two Free Webinars

Thursday, October 29, 11:30 a.m. to noon Central: “The Leadership Edge: How Top Leaders Build Influence, Grow Value, and Attract the Best People.” Register HERE.

Thursday, November 5, 11:30 a.m. to noon Central: “That One Person: How Top Leaders Lead Through It Without Losing the Team.” Register HERE.

Come to one. Better yet, come to both. Let’s grow something together.

-Jeff