How Great Leaders Create Urgency On Their Team
December 17, 2025
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Negativity isn’t always loud.
Sometimes it shows up in eye rolls, missed deadlines, or snide comments under the breath. Other times it’s full-blown disengagement or toxic sarcasm. But whether it’s quiet or aggressive, negativity spreads.
And it spreads fast.
Researchers studying group dynamics discovered what’s now known as the Bad Apple Effect. They added just one negative person to different five-person teams and measured what happened next. The results were alarming:
Team performance dropped by up to 40%
Work quality declined by 25%
Conflicts and disagreements rose by 50%
All from one bad apple.
Not all negativity looks the same. The researchers identified three common types:
The Jerk – aggressive, demeaning, and quick to attack
The Slacker – disengaged, unmotivated, and unaccountable
The Depressive Pessimist – constantly negative, always assuming the worst
If you lead a team, you’ve likely seen one of these. Maybe all of them. The question isn’t whether negativity will show up. It’s how you’ll handle it when it does.
The best leaders don’t wait and hope negativity will resolve itself. They confront it early and directly. Not with shame or blame, but with clarity.
What you tolerate, you encourage
Letting bad behavior slide like constant complaining, passive resistance, or subtle sabotage, sends a loud message to the rest of the team. This is acceptable here. And once negativity gets comfortable, it spreads.
Your job is to make it uncomfortable for the team when you sense negativity is near. Don’t overreact, but certainly don’t ignore it. Call it out and tie it to the potential impact. It might sound something like this.
“I’ve noticed you’ve been dismissive in meetings. That kind of energy brings the whole team down, and it can’t continue.”
Here’s where a lot of managers get it wrong. They try to balance the scales by being extra positive. They smile more, praise more, and constantly stay upbeat. While this is important and it sets a good example for the team, it’s not the manager’s negativity that’s the problem. Here is the hard truth:
You don’t fight someone's negativity with your positivity. You fight it by setting the standard.
That means creating clarity around what’s expected, how we treat each other, how we communicate, and how we show up. Then holding yourself and others accountable to it.
This doesn’t mean being harsh. It means being consistent. Said differently, the leader’s tone becomes the team’s temperature.
Not every negative team member is beyond help. Some need a hard conversation. Others need coaching, encouragement, or structure.
But if the same behavior keeps showing up, despite all of that, you have a responsibility to act. You either redirect their influence or remove it.
Negativity isn’t just frustrating. It’s contagious. Author Jon Gordon has this great line, “Where there is a void in communication negativity will fill it. Fill the voids so negativity can’t breed and grow.”
If you don’t address negativity, one person can drag down the performance and energy of the whole group. It’s not personal. Your job is to lead, which means to put the group’s interest ahead of a personal one.
Negativity will always knock on your door because people default to negative thinking. However, the best leaders don’t ignore it. They deal with it early and often.
Set the tone, clarify the standard, and protect the positive culture your team deserves.
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About the Author: John Eades is the CEO of LearnLoft and The Sales Infrastructure. He was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices. John is also the author of Building the Best: 8 Proven Leadership Principles to Elevate Others to Success. You can follow him on Instagram @johngeades.
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