Vampires in the Team

You stand at the top of the stairs, staring down into the dark abyss. Nothing human would choose to live down there. As you descend the stairs into the gloom, you hear a clicking sound coming from somewhere within the dark catacombs, as if a cauldron of bats resides within.
You steel yourself, and press on. You can’t leave without getting what you came for. Your hands grope along the wall for the light. Finally, you find it and turn it on. The room is bathed in blessed light, and you now see the hunched figures that lurked in the gloom. They hiss at the sudden light. They have clearly grown accustomed to the dark.
“Why have you disturbed my slumber?” Comes a voice from just behind you.
A scream escapes you. You turn quickly as you shriek into the darkness. You see Jeff’s face lit horribly from below with the light from a laptop.
“Oh, Jeff! It’s just you. Thank goodness. I was hoping to get an estimate on the remaining work for the feature you have in progress,” you explain.
“What? So, now that we’re doing Agile, we can’t email this stuff anymore?” Comes his horrible reply.

Vampires!?

We’ve all met them. The vampires. These parasites suck the life from your teams. They come in many varieties. Some are relics of the past, unable to grow with the passage of time, and so have grown resentful of the changes time brings. Others mistrust those who are not their own, and the prejudice makes them commit horrible acts. Okay, hyperbole aside, what I’m talking about is the person on the team who for some reason is hell bent on bringing everyone down. This person champions failures and seems to have no patience for positivity.

Usually, this person shows up in transformations. They are the ones who are having none of this newfangled agile crap, and while you are at it, you can get off their lawn. You may have heard them say something like, “We’ve had people like you come and go before. We just have to wait you out.” Or, “You do your thing. I’ll do mine.” These people are parasites, and they can’t be ignored. This is a tough topic to talk about. It’s uncomfortable, and I feel like because of this, we are ill prepared and reticent to deal with it when it shows up.

But, don’t forget, Vampires were once just like you and me. Someone had to turn them. Maybe it was organizational pressure or a bad influence in their previous lives. What matters is, their behavior is a reaction, and if you want to improve that behavior, you should come from a place of empathy first. Try to understand them. The vampire metaphor is fun, but let’s not get lost in it.

What Does the Lore Say?

In Jeff Sutherland’s book Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, he references these types of people over and over, and when I read his book years ago, I was shocked by how harshly he suggested they be dealt with. In one case he suggests, “They can either change their mind-set or go work for someone else.” But, the data supports him. William Felps and Terence Mitchell from the University of Washington did a study on toxic individuals in organizations and found something that should shock no one: Toxic employees can be the catalyst for an organization’s downward spiral.

How Do We Defeat Them?

So, what do we do about the vampires? We can’t let them corrupt the land and allow the rot and death to seep into the company like Murnau’s Nosferatu. So, do we gather the stakes and crosses and start blessing water? Well, I like to take a less violent approach at first. There’s always time for stakes through the heart. I like to do an influence map. There is no wrong way to do an influence map, but I usually go with a very simple approach. As I learn the supporters and detractors, I begin to put them up on a board. I will color them red for detractors and green for promoters. I then record their motivations and who they know. This gives me some levers to pull when trying to show them that I am not here to hurt them or get in the way. I spend extra time on the detractors and cheer for the promoters. This focus on showing value and meeting people where they are tends to do much more than holy water ever could.

In order to gather the data for that map, I have to do the hardest part of my job. I have to sit down with these difficult people, and tolerate their oftentimes juvenile behavior long enough to gain some understanding. A good one on one with these detractors with some curiosity and compassion can oftentimes expose those levers that you can pull to show them what you can do for them or give them some psychological safety about all these changes.

Lastly, the one surefire way to put down a vamp is to drag it out into the sunlight. Most of the time, it’s an individual who is a part of a much larger initiative or organization who is acting against the best interest of the organization. I find that it helps to do what I should be doing anyway. Shine some light. Make the tantrums public. Don’t try to catch anyone out, but make sure everyone knows that you are putting metrics around that or this meeting is going to be public or recorded. This is not a gotcha thing. What you are trying to do is give the process a chance to speak for itself. Maybe they can see it in action, or at least not ruin it for everyone else.

If All Else Fails?

I’m going to be honest, the kind of attitude that makes a person dig in their heels when their boss, their team, and their entire company are telling them to get in line is not the kind of person who is easily swayed by flimsy stuff like showing them value or proving it. Sometimes, the decision has already been made in their mind, and nothing will change it. Here’s an uncomfortable and often-times unpopular opinion. You can’t let them fester. If you can’t get these kinds of team members on board, you have to either isolate or remove them. Oftentimes, you won’t have the authority to make personnel changes like this. In these cases, you just do what you can. Make the recommendations you need to make, and be transparent not only about your suggestions, which should not be a surprise to anyone, but also the potential result of inaction. At the very least, you can say, “I told you so.” if nothing is done to mitigate the risk.

So, in conclusion, vampires are parasites who, if ignored, can be disastrous for a team, transformation, or organization. Make an influence map, sit with them in one on ones. Try to understand their fears and frustrations. Do your best to help them. If that fails, it may be time to part ways with them. What’s essential is that they cannot be ignored. It’s never easy, but you have to aim for the heart.