The Three Bars Team Framework
A simple decision framework for hiring, firing, and promoting: ask 'If everyone in the organization
A simple decision framework for hiring, firing, and promoting: ask 'If everyone in the organization had the same cultural values, attitude, and level of talent as this employee, would the bar be raised, maintained, or lowered?' Bar-raisers should be promoted into management positions. Bar-maintainers should be trained. Bar-lowerers must be removed swiftly, regardless of their talent. Research shows negative employees are contagious (social multiplier of 1.59) and one bad apple cannot be offset by several good ones.
- The right question for any hire is not whether this person is good, but whether they raise or lower the collective standard.
- One person who consistently models low standards can erode a culture that took years to build.
- Tolerating bar-lowering behavior out of misplaced loyalty ultimately harms everyone the team is supposed to serve.
- Promotion decisions signal what the organization values, so promoting bar-raisers is one of the most powerful cultural levers available.
- Culture spreads through social contagion, which means a single negative actor has outsized influence on group behavior.
- Evaluate each team member against the three barsFor every person on your team, ask: 'If everyone embodied their cultural values, attitude, and talent level, would the bar be raised, maintained, or lowered?' This is about values and standards, NOT diversity of thought, experience, or worldview. Plot each person on the three-bar spectrum.Pro tipSir Alex Ferguson's philosophy: 'Nobody is bigger than the club.' He transferred David Beckham, Jaap Stam, Roy Keane, and Ruud van Nistelrooy - all at the peak of their powers - because they had become bar-lowerers culturally.
- Promote bar-raisers into management positionsEvery manager creates a sub-culture. Move bar-raisers higher in the organization to maximize their cultural influence. When promoting them, publicly communicate WHY they were promoted, pointing to their values and attitude as the reason.Pro tipCompanies do not have one culture - with 30 managers, you have 30 cultures. Getting bar-raisers into management roles is the highest-leverage cultural action you can take.
- Remove bar-lowerers immediatelyResearch shows negative behavior completely outweighs positive behavior. A single bad apple spoils the team culture, but one, two, or three good workers cannot un-spoil it. When a bar-lowerer stays, misconduct spreads with a social multiplier of 1.59. Employees are 37% more likely to commit misconduct when exposed to a co-worker with a history of it.WarningHesitating to fire bar-lowerers is Bartlett's single biggest regret in business. These people are contagious - they turn younger, high-potential, great team members into negative, average worriers. The longer they stay, the more damage compounds.
- Apply the three bars to hiring decisionsUse the same framework when evaluating candidates. Every new hire should raise the bar relative to the current team. Never hire someone who would merely maintain or lower it. As the team quality rises, the bar rises with it, creating a self-reinforcing cycle.Pro tipSteve Jobs found that when you get enough A-players together, they love working with each other and refuse to work with B and C players. The culture becomes self-policing.
Keeping talented bar-lowerers because of their output
No one person leaving a good company kills it, but sometimes one person staying can. Bar-lowerers produce measurable output but create immeasurable cultural damage. When Will Felps studied one toxic employee who was absent sick, the entire team started helping each other, playing music, and going out together.
Seeking diversity of values instead of diversity of thought
The three bars framework explicitly seeks similarity in cultural values and standards, while encouraging diversity of perspectives, experiences, and worldviews. These are different dimensions that are often confused.
This framework comes from Law 30: The Three Bars for Building Great Teams in Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO.
Source · BOOK
The Diary of a CEO