Handling A 'Bad Apple' In Your Team.
Diffuse negative behaviour with your attention.
High performing teams have psychological safety.
But what happens when a ‘bad apple’ risks it?
Research gives us clues: redirect your positive attention.
In one Australian study on team effectiveness, one group outperformed others by 40%.
Why?
They handled a ‘bad apple’.
The bad apple's name was Nick.
Nick was a paid actor.
His job, in this study, was to play the role of a ‘bad apple at work’. The gig required Nick to inhabit one of three roles:
Jerk.
Slacker.
Downer (e.g. Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh).
He was then placed into groups, to see what the damage would be.
This job was Nick’s calling.
I mean, this guy had skills. He could bring the vibe down in a group like nothing else.
Each group he infiltrated went off the rails, affected by his behaviour. Until… he met Jonathan.
Jonathan was a ‘good apple’.
In the group Nick couldn’t infiltrate. Jonathan didn’t let Nick be the dominant voice. He didn’t pull Nick aside, or tell him off.
Jonathan did something a little different.
Instead of letting Nick’s negativity spread … he validated what Nick had to say. Then, changing gears, he redirected his positive attention elsewhere.
A subtle conversational boundary, without diminishing Nick’s dignity.
For something so small, it had an enormous impact.
The actor found himself being helpful, despite being paid to do the opposite. Let’s look at why it was so influential.
Jonathan created safety by making sure the bad apple didn’t dominate.
Psychological safety is the absence of interpersonal fear and the #1 contributor to high performance in teams.
When teams are safe, everyone feels safe to contribute.
Jonathan was ‘increasing’ psychological safety in the ‘bad apple’ story.
Nick’s ‘bad apple’ behaviour was increasing interpersonal fear, by demonstrating that if someone said something, he’d critique or undermine it.
As a result, people naturally held back, and thought twice about contributing.
In comparison, Jonathan was actively, consistently, and attentively reducing interpersonal fear. He took what could sound scary or intimidating (e.g. Nick’s foul mood) and effectively ‘changed the channel’, to minimise the interpersonal flow-on effect.
Jonathan was actively and consistently showing, even if he wasn’t the boss, that undermining, humiliating and critiquing others wasn’t going to be the norm.
Jonathan created safety by doing three things:
Showing ‘belonging cues’ (signs Nick was welcome).
Validating the person, not the behaviour.
Handing the mic. Making sure one voice didn’t dominate.
Here’s an overview of these ideas…
Technique 1: Belonging cues.
Belonging cues are verbal and non-verbal ways of showing you that you are included. They leverage the psychological need to experience likeness with others.
Examples of belonging cues:
Saying good morning when someone arrives.
Addressing someone's absence.
Finding a commonality with a colleague (e.g. both like the same musician).
When someone shows they see and value us, it signals to us that we belong. When we feel we belong, we’re motivated to put in more of an effort.
The belonging cue Jonathan used was over communicating that he was listening and that he valued Nick’s opinion. Nick soon learned he didn't need to behave badly to be noticed.
Technique 2: Validate the person, not the behaviour.
For Nick, being validated was more powerful than being antagonistic to get attention.
In the study, Jonathan may have disagreed with Nick’s perspective. But Nick’s personhood was never up for critique or debate.
Validating is not agreeing.
Validating is acknowledgement. You can validate someone’s perspective, without agreeing with their position.
That’s the secret sauce of what Jonathan did.
By validating Nick’s perspective, then moving on, he was teaching Nick that you don’t need to act up to get my attention in this group.
Jonathan separated Nick’s behaviour from his personhood.
Let’s look at some examples of validation with someone you disagree with.
You needn’t pretend you find their perspective fascinating if it’s testing you. Instead, just validate it from a factual perspective, provided it’s sincere.
Here are examples:
‘Thanks so and so.’
‘I see it differently, but I note your perspective.’
‘That’s something I wasn’t aware of. Cheers.’
Validate before you move the conversation along to close the loop in their heads. (Otherwise they’ll continue, seeking that validation).
Technique 3: Handing the mic.
In the study, Jonathan played the role of ‘conversational facilitator’. Once Nick said his bit, Jonathan validated it, then asked for someone else's contribution.
As a result, the group didn’t get sucked into the vortex of Nick’s negative mindset. There wasn’t enough time spent indulging it.
He was just one guy, with an opinion. It seems Jonathan treated him as such.
Jonathan, the ‘good apple’, teaches us we needn’t ‘tell someone off’ or go ‘head first’ towards the negativity in a group setting to be effective. Instead, you can just redirect your positive attention.
When you ‘reward’ behaviour, you enable it. One way you can reward behaviour is by giving it your attention. It’s the power of redirecting positive attention.
If and when someone says something negative, acknowledge them, then move on.
Recap: your bad apple toolkit.
The next time a conversation goes off track could you:
Show ‘belonging cues’, signalling you have positive intent?
Acknowledge the person (not the behaviour)?
Hand the mic, to balance dominant voices?
It’s a handy list to reflect on and share with your boss, if it’s not an environment where you have authority in a meeting/group setting.
People are not ‘bad’. Behaviour is.
With the right leadership in place, you can handle these types of conversations with confidence.
In our Leadership Programmes, we use this case study to paint a picture of the subtleties of psychological safety and high performance. We share the 5 factors of high performing teams and ask leaders to choose one factor their teams would benefit from most.
In our Creating Psychological Safety Programme, we share this case study and ask people to reflect on their comfort levels using these techniques at work.
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Creating Psychological Safety Programme
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