Courageous Leadership: Leading High Performers Who Don’t Align with Values

When you’re leading, it isn’t just about getting results. It’s about having integrity and values, even in the face of difficult decisions. One of the biggest challenges that any leader will face is managing team members who perform at a high level but don’t share the organization’s values. These are the kinds of team members who might be great at delivering the results you need but rub the rest of the team the wrong way with the behavior they show.

Steve and Dyan have years of experience with building strong teams. This is an issue they’ve run into before. While these situations are never easy to navigate, they make sure that it’s more important to prioritize integrity over the results that such a high performer can deliver. We’ll take a look at how Steve and Dyan dealt with these situations and what you can do in similar situations.

The Dilemma of High Performers Who Don’t Align with Values

Having an exceptional team member who doesn’t align with the values of your organization is a bit of a dilemma. Their results are incredible and helpful to accomplishing your goals, but if they have a bad attitude or lack of respect for others or just bad behavior in general, you can end up causing a rift within your team.

Steve and Dyan have learned over the years that high performance on its own can’t be the only thing someone brings to the table. They have to be able to work well with the rest of the team. If a high performer is allowed to act a certain kind of way, it can cause issues within the team, making it dysfunctional.

“The hardest decisions are the ones where performance and values don’t align. It’s tempting to focus on results, but we’ve learned that values must always come first,” Steve remarked. It’s because of this that Steve and Dyan focus on the health of the overall work culture over what they can achieve on a short-term basis.

Addressing Misalignment Through Direct Conversations

The first step that Steve and Dyan take when approaching this situation is to have a direct conversation with the person in question. They’re not quick to terminate or anything like that. It’s a conversation to give the person the opportunity to align with the company’s values.

While these aren’t easy conversations, it’s important to Steve and Dyan that these are clear and honest. The key is to let the person know that they know the value of the person’s contributions, but that they need to step in line with the organization’s values. Addressing specific behaviors and mapping out a way forward can help create a chance to course-correct the situation.

“We always start with a conversation. People deserve the chance to understand where they’re going wrong and have an opportunity to grow,” Dyan shared. This keeps things transparent between all parties.

In one instance, they had a team member who performed at a high level but was dismissive of those around him. They sat the individual down and talked to him about his behavior. Then they offered support to the individual in hopes that they would grow and align with their values.

The Decision to Let Go of High Performers

Not every high performer who is talked to will realign with the values the company represents. Unfortunately, this means that Steve and Dyan have had to let go of some of these high performers. While this process has never been easy, this also means removing a potentially toxic individual so the rest of the team can thrive.

One example of this is when Steve and Dyan had to let go of a team member who was especially difficult. While they delivered amazing results, they butted heads with the team’s values. They kept having conversations with this individual but ultimately, they never changed for the better. 

“It’s never easy to let a high performer go, but we’ve learned that keeping someone who doesn’t align with our values does more harm than good,” Steve explained. This sends a message to the rest of the team that values are more important than performance, no matter how good that performance is.

Of course, letting a person go comes with its own set of challenges in the short-term, such as having members of the team carry the workload while they find a replacement, but in the long-term, it has huge benefits to the team’s culture.

The Impact of Courageous Leadership on Team Culture

Steve and Dyan emphasized putting values over performance. This mentality has led to a profound impact on their team. Because values come first, integrity and accountability have become part of the culture.

When high performers don’t uphold the values of the organization, it makes others think that all that matters are the results. Team members get disenfranchised by this line of thinking. This is why Steve and Dyan emphasize holding everyone to the same standards of mutual respect and trust.

“By prioritizing values, we’ve created a culture where everyone knows what’s expected. It’s not just about doing the job—it’s about doing it the right way,” Dyan says. This mentality creates a team that is not only aligned with the right values but is also high-performing.

Lessons for Other Leaders

So what are the takeaways from how Steve and Dyan navigate this kind of challenge? First, it’s important to have direct conversations with high performers. In doing so, you have to give those high performers the opportunity to align themselves with company values. However, you also have to keep in mind that this might not happen.

The other lesson is that you can’t compromise values for performance. Losing a high performer might hurt you in the short term, but it’s going to be beneficial to your team in the long run.

“We hope other leaders can see that it’s possible to prioritize values without sacrificing performance. It’s about making the right choices for the long-term health of the team,” Steve emphasized.

Final Thoughts

Being a leader isn’t solely about getting results. You have to make the hard choices, too. This means making sure you’re doing what’s right by the values of your team. In prioritizing this, Steve and Dyan have been able to make a stronger, more collaborative team, even if it means parting ways with high performers.

Emphasizing values over results makes a team more cohesive and resilient. As a leader, you have to be able to make the difficult choices to maintain that along the way.

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