Leaders/ Entrepreneurs who want a more innovative company should judiciously use ‘pink slip’ – an item in the leadership tool box, before it is too late to say goodbye. Fellow employees who are passive-aggressively block innovation from happening and will suck the energy out of any organization need to be shown the door at the earliest. In fact as when a leader is confronted with either a victim, the nonbelievers, or the know it all, it is apt to hand over the pink slip.

The victims are people who see problems as occasions for persecution rather than challenge to overcome. These people feel persecuted by humans, processes, and inanimate objects with equal ease—they almost seem to enjoy it. They are often angry, usually annoyed, and almost always complaining.

The Nonbelievers- leaders and promoters must understand the cancerous effect that nonbelievers have on a team and will cut them out of the organization quickly and without regret.

The Know-It-Alls: The best innovators are learners, not knowers. Employees who are learners should be challenged, retrained, and compensated for failing forward. But if this person’s habits are too deeply ingrained to change, leaders/entrepreneurs must let him or her go. Otherwise, this individual will unwittingly keep the team from seeing opportunity right under the nose.

Source: Business Week