How do I deal with employees who do not follow the rules, but who seem irreplaceable?

Or asked another way…

How do I deal with employees who do not follow the rules, but who seem indispensable?

Some companies have one or two employees who march to their own drummer, out of step with the rest of the company and its culture – safety or otherwise. They behave in ways that wouldn’t be acceptable for everyone else.  At the same time, it seems impossible to function without them, so their negative behavior is overlooked and excused. When someone points out the disconnect between company values and their behavior, the response is some version of, “Well, that’s just [Name].”  This phenomenon is so common in organizations that we have given it a name: The Indispensable Outlier.

It’s important to recognize Indispensable Outliers for what they are: Drags on the organization and destroyers of culture. There’s a good reason the qualities of being “indispensable” and exhibiting bad behavior are so consistently paired. The two work exceedingly well together to get the outlier what they really want: Free reign to behave as badly as they would like within an organization that feels hostage to their expertise. But there is no trade here. It is a one-sided agreement. The indispensable outlier wins —the company loses!

Good employees freely share information and build strong, durable teams that can function whether they are present or not. These employees are extremely valuable to an organization, but have worked hard to make themselves very much dispensable to its every-day functioning. Outliers, on the other hand, hoard and guard information and make sure the rest of the team is blind and cannot function without them. They often create issues that they can then resolve so as to solidify their importance. They manufacture a need for themselves.

The first step in dealing with an Indispensable Outlier is to recognize them for who they are! And, to realize you absolutely can, will and should function without them. In our many years of dealing with the indispensable outlier this is what we have found to be true — without exception:

When the indispensable outlier is removed from the organization everything gets better! 

We recommend you give them a clear choice: Either live up to company values, or leave. This can be a scary step for a leader. You might first think of what you will lose, but the key is to focus on what you will gain. Everyone knows this person has flaunted company values and culture. This undermines not only your culture but your credibility as a leader. With the outlier no longer able to play their game, the people who matter can have confidence in your leadership and in an organization, they know will do the right thing. This allows them to take ownership of their jobs and act confidently, no longer having to deal with fabricated drama and arbitrary consequences.

We suspect in asking this question you know who your Indispensable Outliers are. And we assure you, the rest of your team knows who they are, too. There is no better way to move an organization forward (no way in fact to move forward at all) than by addressing them. Have faith that in doing what you know is right it will lead to a good outcome.

-By Ken Chapman, Ph.D.

HERE IS A RELATED HELPFUL RESOURCE:

Listen to this podcast episode “The Speed of Trust” (35 min listen)