You lead a darn good team, except for one person. You’ve talked to him, gently, several times. Nothing changes.
You know you should deal with it, but you hardly have time to breathe.
It’s the “I’ll-stop-smoking-tomorrow” or the “I’ll-start-the-diet-tomorrow”
syndrome.
Occasional complaints about his performance come from a coworker or customer, but nothing really that big.
You just don’t have the time right now to hire a replacement,
and besides, a new person will have to be trained and may not be that much better anyway.
Okay, you’ve rationalized your stance. Get back to your heavy workload.
Oh, you’ve forgotten one thing. This is not simply a matter of one person whose performance isn’t quite up to par.
You are creating a situation that can ruin your career. The fuse is burning.
You don’t believe it?
Recap of leader quick tip: Ignoring one performer puts your career in jeopardy
You start getting pressure to fire this guy—from his coworkers, or customers, or your boss.
Or maybe he makes one more blunder that is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
You decide to fire him. And you do, after some consulting with the HR department.
Before you meet with him you think about how tolerant you have been. The guy is smart. He knows he’s lucky you didn’t fire him a year ago. This won’t be a surprise to him. He ought to be thankful you’ve put up with him this long.
You follow the book when you tell him he’s a goner.
The guy is outraged. He screams and shouts and makes all kinds of threats.
You’re in shock, but keep your cool. Someone from HR escorts him out.
The guy is a real head case. That’s all your whirling mind can say.
His whirling mind is in a different place. Here’s what he’s thinking.
Why did my boss turn on me? This came out of nowhere. It’s
totally unfair. What does he have against me? What makes him think he can treat me like this? I’ll show him.
How might he show you, now that he’s gone?
He can make accusations. And even formal complaints. What kind?
Well, any kind really. None of it has to be true. You are incompetent, totally unfair, you have hired your cronies, promoted with bias, willfully ignored company policies and procedures, put people in danger by violating OSHA and other federal regulations, he has seen you harass employees, you have taken bribes from suppliers, and on and on.
With email, social networking sites, YouTube, etc. he can slander you throughout your company, with customers, state and federal agencies, and literally all over the world.
And why would he do this? Because you led him on, month after month, letting him think he was doing an okay job. Then with no reason at all, you turn on him (in his eyes).
He’s angry, and actually with good reason.
Don’t be stupid. Deal with performance problems swiftly. Employees can handle swift. It’s “dragging it out” that seems unfair.
Martha Forlines and Thad Green
![images[8]](http://www.beliefsysteminstitute.com/images/wordpress/uploads/2011/12/images81.jpg "images[8]")
Courage
