How to Know When to Remove an Athlete from the Team

I get this question all the time from coaches. You want to help every athlete that joins your team, but every coach at some point starts to get concerned they can’t help a certain athlete. The trust, the buy-in, it just isn’t there. And as a coach you recognize how their attitude and behaviors negatively impact the team experience and performance.

So how do you know when to remove a player from the team?

In a recent call with an executive I coach, he was expressing his continued frustration with one of his directors and wondering if he should fire this individual.

I asked him: Would you hire him if you knew what you knew now? The answer was an emphatic “No.”

So I pointed out they had 3 choices: Keep complaining and being frustrated. Fire them. Or work even harder to coach and develop them.

This executive cares greatly about his people— and so in that moment he chose to work harder to coach and develop this director.

Only then a week later he fired the director— he recognized this individual was not open to being coached or developed and he couldn’t continue to spend his time trying new things or waiting for him to change. It was costing him time and this individual was hurting his organization’s culture.

This process is the same for us as coaches. When you are wondering if you should remove a player from the team…

The First Gut Check:

Ask yourself: Would you select this player for your team today knowing what you now know about them? If it’s a no, then you know you're at a crossroads.

The Fork in the Road:

You've got two main paths:

• Let them go. Sometimes, it’s the only answer.
• Work harder to coach and develop them.

You may not have the time or energy— or your culture may not be strong enough to hold out hope for this individual. And so if you have to make that hard choice to let them go— do it in a way that’s kind and respectful. 

If you want to learn more about this I’ve got a whole chapter on this in my book The Culture System— it’s the last chapter in the book, titled Remove Culture Killers. Be sure to check it out!