I once heard of a development group where every three months a vote was taken and the bottom ten percent of the group were replaced by newcomers. It sounded a bit like Survivor - Development.

A common immediate reaction is to assume that it would become a popularity contest but that wasn't the case. The group had very specific KPI's to achieve and those that helped achieve those goals were well respected in the group, regardless of "popularity". Really anti-social folk tended to get removed though. (In our company, one of the tests we use during the hiring phase is lovingly called the "no axe murderers" test. I think we have Chris Hewitt to thank for that awesome terminology.)

When working as a manager, I always felt that Australian laws made it very difficult to remove the dead-wood out of teams. Clearly, having a tribal council and an eviction for certain development groups wouldn't work, but on this Australia Day public holiday, ask yourself this: If your team had a vote yesterday, would you still have a job on Monday? If not, do something about that now.