The Culture Crashers

Are You Getting Bad Behavior? Look in the Mirror.

Accountability is one of the most important factors in determining the success of an individual, a team or an enterprise. 

It’s also one of the most universally misunderstood and misapplied concepts in business, making it a significant challenge for leaders. 

These factors – the power of accountability, the misperceptions associated with accountability and the fact that accountability remains a perennial problem for most leaders and their organizations – prompted me to write my bestselling book, Accountability: The Key to Driving a High-Performance Culture. This year marks the tenth anniversary of McGraw-Hill’s publication of my book and people continue to tell me the case studies, lessons and exercises are as fresh as ever. 

No wonder. I regularly observe the organizational pitfalls that occur when leaders fail to harness the power of accountability.  

There are also bright spots. In my research for the book, in my work with leadership teams and as I travel around the world speaking to champion the idea that accountability is a support system for winners, I see first-hand what I said ten years ago: The difference between high-performing organizations and all the rest is the mindset leaders bring to accountability. 

But even the best leaders must remain diligent. Because there are always employees with their own agendas, plausible excuses and destructive behaviors who undermine colleagues, stir up trouble and slow down or derail the work to be done. 

These toxic employees are Culture Crashers, and I examine them in my book. Here’s an excerpt:

You Invite the Behavior You Get

Party crashers aren’t new. Every year, people make headlines by strolling uninvited into private parties. 

The uncomfortable reality is that every business has its crashers. The irony, of course, is that unlike a party crasher, the people crashing your culture have been invited into your organization. 

These culture crashers survived a hiring process and managed to beat the system. Now they’re hanging around your organization wreaking havoc with the high-performance culture you’re building and nurturing. 

It’s hard enough battling the world outside your organization without having to fight discourtesy, turf wars and inefficiency on the inside. So if people in your office show behavior that doesn’t match the values you say are important, look in the mirror. Your credibility as a leader is at risk and your organization’s performance is suffering. 

Are any of these characters crashing your culture? Do you recognize yourself?

The Control Freak. Doesn’t trust anyone or anything so this crasher can’t let go and, as a result, is always doing someone else’s job . . . except their own. Erects barriers to their colleagues’ initiative. Loves the dopamine hit derived from doing rather than delegating. 

The Monday Morning Quarterback. Armed with 20/20 hindsight, this second-guesser says little of substance before a decision is made, and then spouts off afterward about what they would have done differently. 

The Sugar-Coater. Willing to address 90 percent of what needs to be said but avoids, downplays or glosses over the difficult 10 percent that can drive positive change. Unwilling or unable to talk about tough issues that must be addressed to improve organizational or individual performance.

The Fire Fighter. Rushes in to save the day but cannot or will not prevent the problem. Occasionally lights fires in order to play the hero. 

The Know-It-All. As the unofficial expert on everything, this crasher has rarely met an idea of theirs that wasn’t the best solution. Tone deaf to other possibilities. 

The Cover-Up Artist. Dodges responsibility by deflecting blame to others. First in line, however, to take credit, regardless of whether they were responsible for success. 

The Empire-Builder. More interested in how many people report to them than developing talent, fixing problems and getting results. Loves calling big meetings to preside over their empire.   

The Joker. Pokes fun at principles, policies, projects and people. Everything’s funny to this crasher, except him or herself, which they take far too seriously. The Joker’s deadlier cousin is The Assassin, who’s more vicious in the ruthless approach to dispatching anyone or anything not to their liking. 

The Sandbagger. Protects budgets, goals and deadlines with plenty of cushion to ensure underwhelming results. Has never seen a stretch goal that couldn’t be shortened. 

The Gossiper. Spreads rumors and loves to dissect problems while rarely suggesting a solution. Lacks the character to speak directly to the people who are the subject of their rants and subtle put-downs. Avoids conversations with the people who can fix things. 

The Dictator (aka Emperor, no clothes). Typically ostracizes employees from important assignments and critical meetings if they answer tough questions honestly. Often penalizes those who identify and report problems.

The Quitter. Surrenders at the first sign of difficulty. Is tired of the fight but not the paycheck.

Toxic Behavior Leads to Tough Decisions

As a leader, you get the behavior you tolerate. So like a lot of tough decisions, deciding how to handle a culture crasher in your organization may be a decision that falls to you. 

You have two choices. 

You live with the unwanted behavior. If so, what’s the cost to your personal reputation as your colleagues see you let some people get away with behavior that’s counter to your values? What are these culture crashers costing your firm’s morale? What’s the cost to your organization’s performance as distractions multiply, deadlines pass and productivity drops? It’s hard for most culture crashers to change their behavior. It doesn’t mean they can’t, simply that it’s more likely they won’t. Coaching rarely helps because their toxic behavior is part of who they are. 

Your second choice is asking them to leave. 

When you ask these crashers to leave, people will thank you and wonder what took you so long.

You'll feel lighter.