Bursts of Color - Managing Barry Bonds

I recently shared this 2x2 framework for evaluating results versus attitude. Today I’d like to dig into a single spot on the matrix: the far lower-right corner, representing great results with poor attitude. This spot often comes to me as a question:

The top performer on my team is also the worst to work with. Several of our other team members have complained and want me to get rid of her/him. Have you seen that before?

Yes. Something like this has come up in almost every team and company I’ve seen. And for the sake of easy storytelling, I call this place on the matrix “Barry Bonds.”

Backstory Part I: Who is Barry Bonds?

For those who live under a rock and/or hate sports: Barry Bonds is/was a phenomenal baseball player who grew up in the Bay Area and played for the SF Giants. Among other claims to fame, he hit more home runs than any other player. Ever. He also had a reputation for being a difficult teammate and breaking rules, from missing curfew to taking steroids.

Barry, bringing the fireworks

Backstory Part II: What’s Up with This Analogy?

At some point in the early 2000s, a manager pulled me aside to talk about a difficult team member we’ll call George. George tended to come and go as he pleased, make snarky comments in group meetings, and only work on maybe half of the things he was asked to work on. On the other hand, when George did choose to work on a project, his output was much, much better than anyone else’s. You know how people talk about a “10X Engineer?” George’s output was like that.

Around the time that George was giving his manager conniptions, I was watching a lot of Giants games. So this example was top of mind and I said:

“I think of George as kind of like Barry Bonds. Is he hard to work with? Yes. But are the Giants still happy to have Barry, and willing to do what it takes to keep him motivated? Yes.”

The following week, the manager told me that he’d found the analogy very helpful. After some time to digest, he recognized that George really was a special case — and that sometimes it is worth treating your star with kid gloves and different expectations… even when it’s annoying.

If You Have a Barry on Your Team

A few things that may help to make the best of it:

• First, confirm that this person’s performance really qualifies them as a Barry. This means demonstrably best on the team, not pretty good.

• Setup Barry’s role to maximize his output and minimize time spent collaborating (e.g., baseball is much more of an individual game, and thus better for such folks, than basketball).

• Acknowledge this situation to Barry, so that he knows where he stands and how he is being perceived. “I’m willing to have different expectations as long as you’re putting up these numbers. But…”

• Quietly acknowledge this special situation to some of the other teammates, and try to get their buy in. “Do you think Barry is kind of a special case? How do you think we should get the most from him?”

What If Others Tell Me to Cut Barry?

When multiple other teammates complain loudly or want Barry’s scalp, it can be hard to determine how bad things really are, so this tends to require getting into specifics.

In many cases, I’ve found that folks are a little jealous and (appropriately) annoyed that the star player is being a jerk. Sometimes these teammates can be won over to the cause with a delicate touch, and other times they can be safely ignored as sour grapes.

In rarer cases, Barry may actually have crossed a line that can’t be crossed, even for the star. In that case he probably has to go, which is a bummer for everyone.

Yes, It’s Complicated

Of course each one of these situations is a little different, and they’re all hard. Sometimes it may be worth having this kind of double standard, other times it can be mitigated… and yet other times it’s just not worth it. This is why you get paid the big bucks to figure it out. :)

What If I Think I AM Barry?

For most of us, it’s safe to assume we are not Barry Bonds. But even if you are the very best at what you do, I’d still encourage you to show up on time and try smiling at your teammates. After all, the real Barry was an All Star through 2007, but his career ended quietly when no team offered him a contract in 2008.