Do You Care Enough to Amputate?

“Every day they stay, your team’s performance drops a little further,” I said.

Sarah looked at me in shock.

“How can that be?” she asked. “He’s our top performer.”

The owner of an upscale design firm, Sarah had asked for my help in figuring out why the business had stopped growing. After five years of dependable growth, they had been on a plateau for the last 12 months.

The answer was clear but difficult to stomach. Her team had contracted corporate gangrene.

If your business training didn’t cover the diagnosis and treatment of corporate gangrene, you’re in good company. While the disease is widespread, it’s rarely discussed.

In the real world, gangrene occurs when a part of the body is cut off from oxygen, nutrients, and antibodies due to a lack of blood flow. Over time the tissue dies. Similarly, corporate gangrene occurs when team members are cut off from information, communication, and healthy teamwork. The catalyst for this affliction can be the poor behavior of a single employee. But it never stops there. Like gangrene in the body, it grows over time until the entire business is affected.

In Sarah’s case, the trouble could be traced back to her decision to hire a Director of Business Development. Her hope was that Rick (not his real name) could accelerate their ability to acquire new clients. And he did… while he simultaneously aggravated and eventually alienated many of the other team members in Sarah’s firm. The resulting dysfunction offset Rick’s achievements, leading to stagnation.

It started when Rick met with the owner of their largest client firm without involving the Account Manager assigned to that client. In fact, he didn’t even let her know the meeting occurred. Later, he threatened an intern with termination if he didn’t do what Rick wanted. He even claimed credit for a breakthrough design that someone else on the team had created.

Rick criticized, misled, disparaged, and gaslit. But he was sneaky. He did it subtly enough that not everyone noticed. In fact, some of the team truly believed he was a great guy. When a few staff members approached Sarah with their concerns, she assumed they were just blowing things out of proportion.

They say one bad apple spoils the barrel, and I suppose that’s true. But sometimes the bad apple looks perfectly healthy on the outside. Unless you’re paying close attention, you might overlook it.

“Think about the people who have talked to you about him,” I encouraged Sarah. “Are they trustworthy? Have they proven themselves to be valuable members of the team? Do you care enough about them, and the business, to address this with Rick?”

Of course it got ugly. Rick denied everything. Some important team members rallied to his defense. Sarah had to involve the HR consultants she worked with. But eventually it all got sorted. The truth came out. Rick left suddenly and loudly, still proclaiming his innocence. But the damage had been done.

Let me be clear: not all team conflict rises to the level of corporate gangrene. And there are many instances where support, training, and encouragement can help a team member grow and thrive.

But gangrene, when left untreated, always grows, leaving death in its wake. Eventually it infects enough of the body that it dies. Corporate gangrene is the same. Unfortunately, it happens far too often. Leaders want to give people the benefit of the doubt. Or they see team dynamics as “soft” so they turn a blind eye. They assume it’s just personality problems until it’s almost too late.

Sarah’s team eventually rallied. It took some time, but they got back on a growth track and are now quite healthy again.

I’m not sure who said it first, but every business problem is a people problem. Businesses don’t exist without the people who make things happen. And the tough truth is that if you truly care about your business—and the people in it—sometimes you have to amputate.