Some people are great at avoiding conflict in the workplace. All you need to do is keep your mouth shut or yield to the strongest voice in the room. However you may be justifying your silence, passivity or lack of engagement, I want you to consider how damaging that behavior is for both you and your team. I also hope to give you some simple, practical suggestions for becoming a healthier, engaged fighter.

When I was in my teens, my dad bought me a Norelco triple-head electric shaver for Christmas. It was a state-of- the-art tool ready to tackle the dozen or so hairs that were beginning to sprout on my chin. I used it for many years until I became frustrated by its inefficacy to closely shave what was emerging as a full beard. So, I switched to a new double-blade razor. Soon that was replaced by a triple-blade razor but, it seemed that no razor was up to the task.

If you’ve ever walked into your Level 10 Meetings or Quarterly Planning and heard someone say “I don’t think we have any issues,” you’re on a slippery slope to mediocrity. If your meetings have become routine or your team looks to you as the source of substance for the agenda for the weekly time you’ve allotted together, then it’s time to consider some questions to better serve yourselves and your company.

When was the last time you asked yourself: “Is everyone on my team in the right seat?”.

To paraphrase Jim Collins from his book ‘Good to Great’, making sure that you have the ‘Right People’ (Core Values Fit), in the ‘Right Seats’ (Job Roles), is fundamental to the success and growth of your company. Having any number of people in the wrong roles is a defining factor of whether any business grows or stalls in the long term.

 When someone is Wrong Person (doesn’t fit our Core Values and Culture), Wrong Seat (in a job they don’t GWC®; Get It, Want It, Capacity to do it and we can’t fix it), or both, the reality is that they have to go.