This would seem to be a month for the demolishing of some cherished beliefs.  “Trickle-down economics and “Tory economic competence seem headed for the bin”. This morning’s report by Baroness Louise Casey on the Met Police comprehensively demolishes that much loved theory of “a few bad apples”.  When I was a child we grew our own apples, if you wanted to save them over the winter you wrapped each apple in newspaper, and them put them on a shelf making sure that they were not bruised and most importantly that NO APPLE TOUCHED ANOTHER.  The problem is that apples are very infectious.  One bad apple and in no time you have an awful lot of bad apples.  There always seem to be one or two that resist but the majority go rotten.

So if your “one bad apple” argument is that there are one or two individuals in an organisation who are rotten to the core, that you get rid of them and the rest are untainted, then this is a very bad analogy.  Or is it? Clearly the people who use it have only ever seen apples as a tasty snack from a supermarket, but in reality it is a very good analogy, and one that all leaders should take very seriously.  In any organisation, whatever you may be told, the processes and procedures are weighted heavily in favour of the person complained about.  All too often, it is the complainant who is shown the door, particularly if your “bad apple” is senior. I can remember a Board debate on the topic “but if we fire him now it will spook the markets and we can’t afford that”. The excuses are endless.  I have also heard, “but what will happen to that project if we move them on?”; “You may not like them, but they really get things done”.  There’s almost always a good reason for not taking action. 

Suppose however the organisation gets brave and fires the “one bad apple” or is dragged through the courts has to face some nasty publicity.  The “bad apple” goes – problem solved!  Not so fast, getting rid of the “one bad apple” does not solve the problem because the rot has already spread. And the longer you leave it the farther the rot spreads.  Wayne Couzens was not a random “bad apple”, he was a product of a culture that ignored or even encourage misogyny and violence.  And even after the shock of his actions the culture continued.

The problem with infection is that you don’t know who is infected, so you must take the view that what you have is an infected culture and you need to change that culture.  Whatever your nice cosy organisational values may say there is something rotten at the base of them and that must be faced full on.  Just saying, as the Met has in the past, that the next “bad apple” will be fired does not begin to deal with the problem.

A rotten culture is difficult to cure.  It can be done, but the work is hard and long term.  You need external help from specialists as you would with any disease.  Find people who have walked this path before, listen to them and then make an honest plan to deal with the problem.  Before you start realise that this is in-depth work, not something you can outsource to a PR agency.  The work is internal, not external, changing the brand, rewriting your values or any of the other bits of expensive corporate frippery will not work.  It takes courage and persistence, but you only have to look at the Met Police to see where the path of ignoring the problem leads.  For most organisations when your customers lose faith in your service they will leave you.  Sadly for the customers of the Met that option does not exist.

Pat Chapman-Pincher 

Pat is a senior leader who has spent most of her career running, founding and growing leading edge technology companies all around the world.   Pat now uses those business skills and experience as part of the team at www.defyexpectations.co.uk

to help organisations accelerate their success by solving complex business issues in today’s turbulent world.