• Sometimes you might have to let go of your best employee(s) if they are not team players • Team always beat individual efforts

1. Podcast on Not a Team Player
This is a very tough topic from me because I definitely firedmaybe my best
employee;it was neededand necessary but very tough…
Now, this is a guy that is like one man army – like everyday he’s at work early,
he’s the last person to leave, he holds the key and he runs everything – Frontof
House, Back of Houseoperations, purchases/market; everything and he never
complains; he didn’t take time off and there were days he worked six days
straightwith no day off, no time off, no shift, nothing. He was always thefirst one
in and last one out. Other guys will walk in and complain how they work long
hours even though they get 2 days off; he never did that. But then, I started
realizing he became a weak point for me because he was moreof a bottle neck
because of how he shows up and how serious he was delivering his tasks. I valued
that more than the quality of work he was putting in. But any moment I hire
someone like a new management, he would always have issues with them and
initially I didn’t care becauseI’d say maybeI hire a new manager right now and
after like 2-3months hequits; I’llbe like well obviously hewas not really the right
person for the job if so he would have stayed on; and me keeping this ‘amazing
staff’ or favoring him is because he delivers. He overpowers every other person I
get in. There weretimes I hired higher managers and they were almostokay with
him doing the entire job whereas they were paid more and I’d think this is the
reason I need him, not this ‘manager’ that’s justposing around and getting paid.
But subconsciously, I was notmaking sure… let me use an example; there’s a big
dog and a puppy and you are feeding both of them at the same time, the big one
gets bigger and stronger and you say the small one shouldn’tbe here anyways - I
think that I probably didn’t give my old managers the chance to grow becauseI
didn’t explicitly separate tasks (delegate) and I didn’t check this good staff to
make surethat he gave them a chance to grow and also to learn their job.
At some point I felt that he knowing and handling everything could be a challenge
for my business to grow, plus that in the last 7months I havebeen interviewing
business owners and meeting experts and professionals then, I started seeing the

2. flaws in personality like that. So I really had to make changes but then I was
hoping that if I hired a strong team around him, he would change; have morefree
time, delegate and shareeasily with other people. But the casewas the opposite.
Itbecame conflict whenever I hire someoneelse. Then I now realize that he was
almost sabotaging opportunities; then I took offence to that becausethat is a
staff I hired to make his job easier so he could focus on other things and we could
have a bigger plan. We had team meetings, more training on communication and
things like that yet he still wasn’tgetting it.
So, there was an episode where I haveshut down other locations and brought
back all my employees to the main officeand then we had to makesome cut –
the goal was to let go of certain low level staff; truth is, the more the staff you
have, the less productive and efficient they become - but he wasn’t around when
we decided this. So the rest of the management team wrotea letter to let go a
low level staff but this management team staff wouldn’thand over the letter to
the lower staff because he wasn’tthere when the plan was made and when the
manager called him, he didn’t get the call. He said he wasn’tgoing to talk to him
as long as it’s not official number –whatever that means – so I came by to the
office because I was upsetand why should I tolerate a staff that at this level
wouldn’tfollow process and then if I allowed him to continue this way, he is going
to sabotage every other staff and all of them might go. So now I havea staff that
does everything for me and eventually anything happens and he leaves, I’d be in
trouble because I’venever had another staff that has got the opportunity to learn
and grow. I had to make a top choice – I think managers shouldn’teven be
suspended; you might as well fire them becauseif you suspend a management
team member, you send a very strong messageto the entire staff and it devalues
the position person in question – obviously, I led him off and gavehim 2months
salary and a recommendation letter; not that he was totally a bad staff but he still
has growing to do and he misunderstands thatmuch can be achieved and
accomplished as a team.

3. You almost cannot havejusta staff handling your things; there must be a team.
Renaldo might be the one scoring all the goals, but others have to give him the
right passes; the goal keeper makes suretheir opponents don’t scorethem. So it’s
only team that can survive. In a team, each person musthave their own role that
they execute excellently. So if one person doesn’twant to shareand function very
well in a team, them he is liability to your business no matter what, you have to
make changes. When you make thosechanges, it’s going to costyou becauseyou
are taking away a huge stability and years of experience.
People worry that staff going means him giving out your ideas; yes it’s bound to
happen but shouldn’tbe enough reason to keep a staff. Ithas to be – does this
staff function in a team? When objectives are changed, does he fall in line?
So lessons that I havelearnt from this is having team players. I don’tcare if it’s all
star staff or not; but what I care about is that there has to be a team and once the
captain decides on strategy to move with, everybody mustalign with that. If your
management team do not align, each moment there’s misunderstanding, itgives
a lot of disadvantageand team begins to sabotageeach other and their
subordinates begins to undermine their authorities. Leadership has to be earned;
it is not justby position alone.
Key Takeaway Points:
 Sometimes you might haveto let go of your best employee(s) if they are
not team players
 Team always beat individual efforts
 Make sureyou have multiple players in similar positions because things
might happen and you don’t wantto lose momentum
 If you have an all star employee, that’s fantastic but he can’t be the only all
star in your team

4.  Build a strong balance team over an individual effort – with a strong team,
you can win.
 Leadership has to be earned; it is not justby position alone.
 There has to be a team and once the captain decides on strategy to move
with, everybody mustalign with that
 If your management team do not align, each moment there’s
misunderstanding, itgives a lot of disadvantageand team begins to
sabotageeach other and their subordinates begins to undermine their
authorities.
 In a team, each person must havetheir own role that they execute
excellently and any staff that doesn’t function very well in a team is liability
to your business.
 Renaldo might be the one scoring all the goals, but others have to give him
the rightpasses; the goal keeper makes sure their opponents don’t score
them – team work.
 Do not place every running of your business centered around one staff as
that can cripple your business should he/she leaves.