It’s a challenging question – How do you know when all the people in your organization are really working in unison to move it forward? An analogy I like to use is a team engaged in a game of tug and war. They all need to be tugging at the same time, with equal effort.

Say you have 20 people on either end of a long rope, facing off and pulling hard. The ribbon tied in the middle moves a little in one direction, then the other. It appears as if everyone on your team is tugging with all their might. But a closer look reveals a common scenario.

One person has a really hard grip on the rope, but their posture is all wrong – they’re standing up straight, not leaning backwards or bracing with their legs, so they’re not ready to withstand a strong tug from the other side. Their heart and mind is in the right place, but the experience isn’t there.

Another member of the team has the right body posture and makes it look like they’re tugging hard, but their hands are barely touching the rope. For whatever reason, they don’t want to put in the effort.

Then, there is a person who has the correct posture and body alignment, a tight grip and is pulling hard on the rope. They’re giving it all they’ve got, but they’re at a disadvantage because they have to compensate for the others who are not.

Every once in awhile, an even bigger impediment comes along – someone comes up to the line, sees everyone tugging and sends a message like: “Hey, why are you tugging? It’s 5:01 p.m.!”

While the team may have had a lot of dysfunction, at least they were going in the right direction and the rope was moving…As soon as that bad apple arrives and makes them question the mission, the members are disrupted and lose momentum. They wonder if it’s time to give up.

Now, there’s a very uncomfortable, odd feeling that occurs between the bad apple and the team getting the work done. There’s going to be a clash of emotions. At that moment, the outcome is decided – either the team presses on to win, or the bad apple wins and the mission collapses.

When you get momentum going in the right direction, you need to recognize bad apples when they appear, because once you stop, it’s too hard to get the momentum going again, whether it be for a new invention, a new company or a game of tug of war.

Some bad apples may have had poor training or poor parenting. Some may be inexperienced. It’s a difficult mission to manage bad apples and remove the dysfunction, but it’s crucial because we all have to work harder to make up for their lack of effort and disruption. We’re always on a mission to get the dysfunction out.

It’s a big challenge – trying to get everyone’s mind and spirit moving toward a common goal, a shared mission. As adults, sometimes we need to draw on those childhood games, like tug of war, that were invented to teach us how to think right and get things done.

The lesson is simple – for a team to win, everyone has to put all their energy, experience and effort in and work together to accomplish the goal.