St. Gallen is a quaint medieval city in eastern Switzerland that’s famous for having one of the top business schools in Europe and for hosting the annual Olma agricultural fair. The highlight of this event is a pig race with six already well-fed contestants running around the arena to get to a feeding trough on the other side. About a dozen kids from the audience helped to move the pigs away from the trough and back to the starting block for the next heat. Predictably hilarious incidents resulted when the pigs refused to be guided back to their stalls. One young boy, much to the horror of his parents and the gasps of the audience, not only pushed and shoved the crowd-favorite Aurora to get her to obey – he kicked the pig. Suddenly, Aurora, and the rest of the pigs, too, turned and ran directly (well, mostly directly) back to their pens.

Now I’m not recommending leaders physically kick their teams into obedience, of course. But sometimes one or two “errant teammates” need to be visibly disciplined if what they’re doing could be damaging to the cohesiveness of the team. Others on the team will get the message that you’re serious about the behaviors you are expecting. Are you letting things slide on your team and allowing a few to undermine the standards you expect them to uphold? Is there a fair way to enforce and reinforce positive team behaviors so that others will be reminded to demonstrate them? Be a thoughtful leader. Ask, assess, then act! Contact us – we’re here to help.