Destructive Team Member

 The Tank: a person who dominates a discussion or an issue by brute force of personality. When they
present, they speak as an authority. These types of people can be destructive to the process of open
discussion and consideration of alternatives.
 Solution: Thank them for their opinion, then ask if there are some other perspectives from other team
members.
 The Grenade: The conversation will be going along fine and all of the sudden, a team member throws out a
discussion-ending comment.
 Solution: Address the comment immediately and suggest that the grenade thrower refrain from
comments that will end the conversation of alternatives.
 The Think-they-know-it-all: Similar like the tank, he speaks as if he knew everything.
 Solution: Similar to Grenade.
 The Maybe Person: This is the person who cannot commit to any position or issue. They take refuge in
ambiguity.
 Solution: In a team, you need to help these people to commit. Provide them simple alternatives and
ask them to decide.
 The Sniper: These people are destructive force in a team. The Sniper delivers negative comments within the
team that attacks the ideas.
 Solution: address the behavior immediately and let them know that comments like that are unacceptable
based on the norms.
 The No Person: Nothing will work, no matter what to this person.
 Solution: Help to see him that no is not an option. Define the alternatives.
 The Yes Person: While less negative, this person is so agreeable for all.They are more eager to please
than they are to offer objective alternatives.
 Solution: Point out that he is appreciated for his positive outlook, but he needs to explore options
more thoroughly if they want to gain more credibility.
 The Traitor: This person speaks very little in meetings, or sometimes disagrees, and spends times out of
meetings lobbying for alternative positions or arguing decisions made by the team
 Solution: Establish rules early that issues are dealt with in meetings and his behavior is not
acceptable.
 The End Arounder: He who goes around the team or to another supervisor or administrator and
complains, lobbies or takes alternative positions to team.
 Solution: Identify the behavior in team development and make it known it is not acceptable. Get all
administrators and supervisors to suppress the behavior if it occurs. It should be nipped in bud.