The canoe battle began.  The object of this particular engagement was to sink your opponent’s canoe.  No real rules – just try to get more water in the competition’s canoe than in yours.

The battle took place at the base of a small waterfall, which added an exciting element to the contest.  A simple way to accelerate your opponent’s demise was to somehow get his canoe underneath the waterfall.  If successful, before he knew it, his canoe was overflowing with water and he was out of the competition.

Our unique water extravaganza took place on a remote lake in Manitoba’s Whiteshell region.  Annually, myself and another youth leader, led a weekend wilderness canoe trip for teenage guys.  These were wild and wonderful weekends.

The unique memory of this particular occasion was not the sight of a number of young men frantically bailing out their canoes trying to stay afloat.  It actually came after we all dragged our canoes ashore to drain out the water.

Someone had the brilliant idea to skid down the water-covered rock face above the waterfall and fly off the edge in the waterfall into the lake below.  It was a great adventure with lots of laughs all round.  But the real fun started when we were drying off on the rocks.  One of the guys looked at his buddy and commented,

“Hey, I didn’t know you had a big mole there.”

“What are you talking about?” his buddy responded incredulously.

When he examined it more closely he discovered it was definitely not a mole.  No, it was a leech.  Not one of those large, slug-like Hollywood leeches.  No, this was a small black, round, disk-like Manitoba leech.  And this was not the only one…

For the next prolonged period of time we all frantically searched every square inch of our skin and every bodily crevasse to seek out and destroy the army of leeches that had attacked us.  It was disgustingly hilarious.

When you pry off a leech there is blood left on your skin.  You can’t help but be grossed out by the thought that this slimy organism had sunk its teeth into you and is sucking the life out of you.  Leeches can actually consume 10 times their size in blood.  After gorging themselves for 20 minutes they tend to fall off though.

Waters filled with leeches are not pleasant to swim in.  You want to avoid them if you can.

Companies are no different really.  There are companies that are free from leeches, and there are others that are leech ridden.  A company does not need to be leech ridden to be negatively impacted though.  All it takes is one leech in the organization to create a significant negative impact.

Leeches are those people who tend to suck the life out of your company.  They suck the life out of other people in the organization.  Leeches are disengaged people who cause others to be disengaged.  They decrease morale.  They decrease job satisfaction for those with whom they work.

Leeches are negative people.  They whine and complain.  They constantly see what is wrong.  Nothing is ever good enough for them.  They decrease productivity because they engage in unproductive activity, and they hinder others from engaging in productive activity.  They spread negativity throughout their team.  They are a root of bitterness that infects others.

So how do you deal with corporate leeches?

Well, sadly you have to cut them out.  They typically will not change.  They are takers and not givers.  They are self-centered, not others-centered.   Their attitude is a contaminating cancer.  Their negativity is contagious.

That is why you have to cut them out.  You have to remove them from the organization.  If you don’t, they will continue to infect the rest.

Sure, by removing them you may bleed for a little bit, but in the long run you will be far healthier without them.  The challenge to removing the leeches is to discern between the infectors and the infected.

Do you have some corporate leeches you’ve been unwilling to deal with?  The situation will only get worse until you have the courage to remove the leeches.