UPDATED AUGUST 2026
I've revised this article. Tip nine used to tell you to shrug off a bullying claim. That advice was wrong, and it's gone. Everything else still stands.
Such an interesting question! Why do we tolerate poor behaviour in the workplace? The responses I am often afforded include:
I can’t do anything about it; it’s not my job to.
My manager is useless, it’s their problem not mine.
That’s Harry; he’s always been that way.
It’s not worth the effort to say anything.
HR never do their job! We just can’t do anything about it!
My thoughts when I hear these excuses….?
Poor behaviour impacts directly on team morale and performance. If you do not align your team vision, work behaviours and consequences for breaking the rules, you are not driving a high performing team. Why would you want to work on a team that is not focused on being the best?
The answer for porcupines is simple. You have two options:
Develop their behavioural capabilities; move their performance up; or
Move ‘em out and off the team!
BEFORE YOU GO PORCUPINE-HUNTING
Sometimes the prickly behaviour isn’t a porcupine at all. It’s a good person running their best behaviour at the wrong volume, under a pressure nobody has named. Same spikes, completely different problem, and a completely different conversation.
And sometimes there is nothing left in the tank. Coach a won’t and you build resentment. Coach an empty tank and you build pressure. What follows is for the ones who genuinely have decided not to.
Worth ruling both out first: The 13 Counterfeits of Trust and the gate.
Nobody likes a porcupine! [As I say, there’s often a prick on every team!] so why do we let them stay? I think it’s because we don’t know how to correct their behaviour, or we are too scared to tackle them. So here are my tips on dealing with a team porcupine:
Establish a shared team vision and purpose; ensure everyone knows how the work they do contributes and aligns to the team goals and the organisational vision.
Agree on how you are going to do business with one another; set ground rules, values and behaviours that you all agree to adhere to.
Determine clear consequences for a breach in behaviour; there has to be a known consequence. Here is what most teams have: clear consequences for outputs, and none at all for behaviour. Miss a deadline and everybody hears about it. Belittle someone in a pre-start and nothing happens. Porcupines are not stupid. They worked out years ago which currency their organisation actually counts.
And there is always a consequence. The only question is who pays it. Leave a behaviour alone and the cost does not disappear, it transfers onto the people who work around it, cover for it, and eventually leave because of it. "We don't really do consequences here" is not a neutral position. It is a decision to bill everyone except the person responsible.
A consequence is not the same as a punishment, either. Most are small and early: naming it in the moment, a quiet word afterwards, putting it right with the person on the receiving end. Agree them when you agree the behaviours, not after somebody breaches one, because a consequence invented on the spot always feels personal. And this isn't personal.
Engage in crucial conversations with team members every time there is a breach in agreed team behaviour. It is not the manager’s job to do this alone; take responsibility for your own environment, happiness and team conduct; of course you can tell someone when they are not adhering to the agreed behaviours….it’s a public work space!
Straight talk with a colleague about agreed team behaviour doesn’t equal confrontation! Change your mindset and engage in a conversation to grow and develop team performance. It’s not personal… business is a team sport.
If the poor behaviour continues, meet with the person in private and describe to them clearly the behaviour that is inappropriate and needs to stop. Tell them how it makes you feel to witness this behaviour; the impact it is having on you and the team. Let them know that you do not want to see it continue and that if it does, there will be a consequence [that you would rather not initiate; that is their choice]. Probe how you can help them to adapt or change their behaviour if they are unable to identify how to rectify things themselves. Remain steadfast that continuance of the behaviour will not be tolerated.
If it happens again, you must start the formal performance improvement process. No consequence, means no change in behaviour. Consult with your manager and HR first; they are there to help you despite what you may think! Role play with them exactly what you are going to say. If you want the actual words, Holding Performance Conversations has the full script. The first place a porcupine heads after a formal performance improvement meeting is to your manager and HR; so make sure they both know what is coming!
Follow the performance improvement process to ‘manage up’ or ‘manage out’ the porcupine. No one respects a manager or a colleague who enables poor team performance. It’s just not what winning team players do!
Expect the bullying claim and take it seriously anyway.
When you performance manage someone, there is a fair chance they will say they are being bullied. In 2017 I wrote that it's just what they do. That was flippant, and I've cut it.Here is the better version. In Australia, reasonable management action carried out in a reasonable manner is not bullying. That's close to the actual wording in the Fair Work Act, and the whole test sits in those two halves. Reasonable action, and a reasonable manner. Getting the first right and the second wrong is exactly where managers come unstuck.
So what makes it reasonable? Expectations the person has actually seen. Consequences they knew about before they breached them. Conversations held in private, about behaviour rather than personality. The same standard applied to your best performer as to your worst. Support offered, and a record that you offered it.
Do all that and the process stands up. Skip it, and the claim may well be fair.
And when a claim does land, don't wave it away. Refer it, let it be looked at properly, keep managing in the meantime. A leader whose first response is "that's just what porcupines do" is a leader who has stopped checking whether they're the problem.
I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice. Your HR team and your own advisers are the people to check your specific situation with.
If you want a visual reminder of how to deal with a porcupine, consider purchasing our leadership vision cards to keep a reminder on your desk every day!
If you have tips and tricks on how to deal with a porcupine, let us know, we always value hearing your thoughts and opinions!
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