Effective leaders must find ways to motivate their employees to provide maximum success for the organization. In today's world of high accountability, this ability is paramount to the success and survival of schools, and is an especially important skill for early career principals to master. Knowledge of the factors that might have contributed to some of the employees becoming difficult in the first place will help in selecting the proper interventions. One way to deal with negative and difficult staff members is to directly confront their behavior. This can be highly effective because other staff members see that the principal is concerned and doing something about their issues. In addition to this, the principal should work to develop the strengths of the other staff members to minimize the development or impact of the difficult and resistant staff. In this article, the authors share some strategies which they have found helpful in building the strength of a school's employee base.