If the Culture is Rotten, No Org Chart Saves You. You’re Just Moving Boxes Around.
I watched someone brilliant drain the energy from a room in under five minutes. Three people who'd been excited about their work suddenly looked at their shoes.
That's the cost most leaders miss when they protect high performers who happen to be toxic.
I once had to restructure an office that had been loss-making for years. Six months to turn it around or we'd close. The temptation is always to keep your best performers and let go of the most expensive people you can afford to lose.
I did something different. I scored everyone on three dimensions: Performance. Potential. And energy - whether they lift people up or drain them when things get hard. 1-5 on each.
The hardest part wasn't cutting underperformers. It was letting go of brilliant people whose negativity was holding everyone else back. People who were individually exceptional but made everyone around them smaller.
Within six months, the office went from scheduled for closure to profitable. The shift wasn't just about numbers. You could feel it in the room. People started volunteering ideas. Staying to help each other. Taking risks they wouldn't have touched before.
Netflix figured this out too. Reed Hastings said it plainly in their culture deck - "Some companies tolerate brilliant jerks. For us, the cost to effective teamwork is too high."
During transformation, one toxic person doesn't just underperform. They make five other people underperform. Do the maths. That's hugely expensive financially and spiritually.
→ High performance + poor energy = transformation killer
→ High potential + positive energy = transformation fuel
You can train skills. You cannot train energy.
📌 Most leaders spend months debating org structure. But if you've got toxic energy in the team, no structure fixes it. You're just rearranging deck chairs.
When I assess teams now, I watch who people turn to when things fall apart. Who contributes ideas without being asked. Who treats impossible deadlines as problems to solve together.
Energy doesn't show up in performance reviews. It shows up in who people want to work with when things get hard.
That shows you everything. And when change is moving this fast, you can't afford to get it wrong. Look at your team today. Who would people choose to work with when the pressure's on?
Tags: #Leadership #Culture #TeamBuilding #Transformation #AI #FutureOfWork #Agencies
Originally published on LinkedIn on 25 November 2025.
