The Power of -1: Why Subtracting One Can Multiply Team Success

The Power of -1 in Teams

In every workplace, there are people who refuse to work and, even worse, stop others from working too. These individuals, with their constant negativity, resistance, or lack of cooperation, weigh the team down like a heavy load that no one can move. They exist in stark contrast to the majority, who may be motivated by encouragement, understanding, or appropriate adjustments. Yet, for a rare few, no reasonable intervention will shift their behaviour. They are, to borrow a metaphor, the "bad apples" of the team.

This is not a casual observation; it’s an assertion rooted in decades of psychological and organisational research. Consider the work of Will Felps, Terence Mitchell, and Eliza Byington (2006), who described the "bad apple effect". A single uncooperative or destructive team member can significantly degrade the performance of an entire group. They infect the team with their cynicism, laziness, or hostility, spreading dysfunction like a contagion. No matter how stellar the rest of the team may be, the negative force exerts a disproportionate influence.

In the calculus of organisational health, sometimes the subtraction of one leads to the multiplication of many.

The Math of Negative Productivity

If you have a team of five, the subtraction of a toxic member isn’t a simple arithmetic exercise. You’re not left with four doing the work of five. In fact, when the obstructive influence is removed, those four may operate with renewed vigour, creativity, and efficiency. It's as if you've lifted a weight from their shoulders — a weight they scarcely knew they were carrying.

The power of -1 can be transformative. Removing a non-contributor who hampers collective effort often leads to a net increase in productivity, collaboration, and morale.

This insight aligns with research by Michael Housman and Dylan Minor (2015) from Harvard Business School. Their study on "toxic employees" found that these individuals have a contagion effect, leading others to exhibit similar negative behaviours. One toxic employee can cause the departure of good employees who are unwilling to tolerate such behaviour. The study also revealed that avoiding a toxic hire can be more valuable than hiring a star performer because of the long-term damage toxic employees cause.

Additionally, Housman and Minor’s study quantified the financial impact of toxic employees, showing that avoiding them can save significant costs in turnover, lost productivity, and morale damage. This demonstrates that the negative productivity of a toxic team member extends beyond mere inefficiency; it actively undermines the work environment.

The "Team Dynamics and Bad Apples" Study

Research by Frost and Robinson (1999) highlighted another critical aspect of toxic behaviour. They introduced the concept of "toxic handlers"—individuals who manage or contain the impact of toxic team members, often at the cost of their own well-being. This study indicated that unchecked toxic behaviour leads to stress, burnout, and declining group cohesion. Toxic handlers may temporarily mitigate the damage, but the underlying problem remains, slowly eroding the team’s effectiveness.

When Elimination Isn’t an Option

Now, let’s confront a harsher reality. In large organisations or bureaucratic settings, direct removal is sometimes impossible. Employment contracts, union protections, or hierarchical inertia may tie your hands. The bad apples are permanent fixtures. So, what do you do when expelling them is not on the table?

There is a solution. Isolation.

These individuals can be grouped together and tasked with work that keeps them sequestered from the core operations. This isn’t a punishment; it’s an experiment in self-contained productivity. By removing their ability to disrupt high-functioning teams, you protect the integrity of the broader organisation. This isolated group is free to find their own rhythm, to produce something, or to confront the consequences of their own dysfunction without infecting others.

And here’s where things get particularly interesting: occasionally, when removed from the general milieu and placed into this isolated setting, some of these individuals do begin to produce. Why? Because sometimes the issue isn’t one of sheer unwillingness. Sometimes, the problem lies in misaligned roles, interpersonal conflicts, or hidden grievances that hinder them from contributing effectively. In their isolation, these hindrances dissipate, revealing their potential to be, at the very least, competent.

A Critical Caveat

This approach carries a critical caveat. If the isolated team begins to show genuine signs of improvement — if their productivity rises to a respectable level — then we must acknowledge the uncomfortable possibility that we have misunderstood them. Their previous obstruction was not an inherent flaw of character but a symptom of a deeper dysfunction in the system. They wanted to play, but something blocked their path. The fault lay not in them alone, but in the structure and interactions within the broader organisation. Recognising this requires humility, and perhaps, further adjustments to leadership and team dynamics.

The Moral Responsibility of Leadership

In the end, the power of -1 is not merely about cold efficiency or ruthless culling. It is about recognising a moral and practical responsibility as a leader. Teams thrive on trust, competence, and mutual respect. When these are undermined, productivity is not just hindered — it is poisoned. To protect the health of the collective, sometimes one must perform the difficult surgery of excision, or at least sequestration.

The alternative is to permit the festering of dysfunction, a slow erosion that leads not only to failure but to resentment, disengagement, and despair. As a leader, your task is to see the forest and the trees — the individual and the team — and to act decisively when that rare yet destructive force threatens to undo the whole.

In the calculus of organisational health, sometimes the subtraction of one leads to the multiplication of many.

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You may also be interested in The Power of 4: Building Balanced Teams for Sustainable Success

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