Follow on 
I have the privilege of providing executive coaching to many successful leadership teams. One team in particular that I have been working with over the past several years, had a noticeable breakthrough. In our recent group coaching session it became glaringly evident that the departure of one of the leaders in the past year created a huge shift in energy, communication and teamwork.
As we reviewed the game film (a process I use to make them accountable for results by reflecting and recounting their leadership performance) they all began to talk about how they had shut down, communicated less and worked in silos as a result of one leader’s isolationist mindset.
Here’s the lesson – Great coaching leaders identify and extract people from their team who don’t have the right mindset, mood or team approach. As it turned out the former toxic leader had some outstanding technical skills which, unfortunately, led to the CEO keeping him around longer than he should have.
In the sports world, Bill Belichick recently threw Randy Moss off the New England Patriots. Moss is admittedly one of the most talented receivers in the league, but unfortunately he’s also one of the most corrosive and disruptive players to team dynamics. Belichick was courageous and decisive about the team’s values and knew Moss had to go.
As I sat there listening to my client, I thought about how much time and energy was lost as the CEO tolerated the wrong attitude and mindset. Eventually, other factors led to the exit of the isolationist leader, but it should have happened faster.
Great coaching leaders understand the intangibles– team chemistry, having like minded people and not tolerating high maintenance superstars.
I’m going to take this lesson and continue to push and challenge my other CEOs to be more courageous faster!