At some point, a marketing leader may inherit a team member that isn’t working. And it’s often an open secret around the office.
We used to have a word for this.
“Deadwood.”
That’s probably not acceptable anymore. But I can tell you the situation still exists.
I’ve seen it too many times for it to be a one-off.
This is the one team member that previous leaders didn’t know what to do with.
They’re usually either very nice or quietly toxic.
Sometimes they’re not particularly good at the job.
Sometimes they’re technically excellent.
Either way, the word inherit matters.
Because this situation isn’t something you created.
It’s the result of someone before you not taking action.
They avoided the hard conversation.
They delayed the decision.
And now, their issue flows downstream to you.
(Often, it’s a harder manage in unionized or highly regulated environments. But I’ve dealt with this just as often in corporate settings. Different structures. Same pattern.)
So first – you need to know this:
It’s not fair.
You’re dealing with the consequences of someone else’s inaction.
Recently, I’ve been working with a client navigating exactly this as part of a broader change inside their marketing department.
The individual in question was effective at her role, but the rest of the team was walking on eggshells.
Some weeks, she was fine. Friendly, even helpful.
Other times, she operated unchecked in subtle ways:
- Back-channelling
- Taking credit for others’ work
- Slow responses on colleagues’ time-sensitive projects where her expert input was required
- Repeated outreach to HR complaining about team members
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing that would make a single, clean case.
But over time?
Left unchecked it would 100% chip away at the trust, momentum, and the culture this leader needed to build.
And as a leader, you need to ensure you are being set up for success.
And deadwood ain’t it.
Quiet permission for bad behaviour is insidious. It can do more damage than obvious dysregulation.
I’m not going to say there’s a magic bullet other than this:
You have to deal with it.
Because your team is watching to see whether the pattern continues. Whether this leader will do what the last one didn’t.
Because you deserve a team you can lead to achieve the department’s goals.
In this case, we’re using an approach a former CEO shared with me.
Revisit expectations for the role. And for conduct as a member of the team.
You give the person a day off (paid) to think about it.
And they decide whether they can commit to what the role – and the team – requires.
If they can’t?
You shake their hand.
You buy them a beer.
And you wish them well.
This isn’t the only approach. But it works for this situation. In others, you may need to free that team member to be successful elsewhere. Because on some level, this behaviour doesn’t come from being happy. Or fulfilled.
You didn’t create this problem. But you can choose to be the leader who ends it.
👉 If this is something you’re navigating right now, I go deeper on it in Elevated, a private note I send to marketing leaders dealing with growth and complexity.
