Deciding when it’s “time” to part ways with an employee can be one of the most difficult and unpleasant tasks you face as a business leader. It is especially difficult if you have not established criteria to assist in the decision to promote, retain, or fire members of your team.
If your business is growing, the roles you need fulfilled are likely growing and getting more complex and diverse. It wouldn’t be unusual if the skills needed for these new and different roles are not available in the pool of talent you currently have available.
Signs You May Be Ready to Fire an Employee
One of the most difficult aspects of being a leader is accomplishing your vision and goals through surrogates. The difficulty is compounded when you’re not sure if the surrogates you have are the best you could have. If you are considering eliminating members of your team, ask yourself the following questions.
1. Are you reading this article with someone specific in mind?
If you’re reading this article out of blanket curiosity, you can skip the rest of this paragraph. But if you’re reading this post with someone specific in mind, that should be a big, bold, flashing sign. Asking yourself if this person “belongs here” is often a point of no return. But, if you’re not ready to throw in the towel, it’s time to have a tough conversation and work on reconstructing the relationship.
2. Would you accept their resignation?
If you have someone in your organization whose resignation you’d accept, that means you’d prefer they weren’t there. And if you’d prefer they weren’t there, they shouldn’t be there. It’s really that simple. They’re probably not a bad person, just a bad fit. And a bad fit doesn’t belong on the payroll.
3. Have they decided not to succeed?
If you haven’t provided everything they need to succeed - shame on you. But if you’ve provided them everything they need, and they are willfully ignoring the resources, shame on them. For instance, if your company knows what type and what quantity of behavior to engage in to succeed, this has been communicated to your employees, and means of accountability from leadership has been established, and the employee fails to do the right types and right volumes of the right behaviors - they have decided not to succeed. And you cannot help someone who has decided to be unsuccessful.
4. Are they conditionally committed?
Commitment is a spectrum, and you’ll likely never see an employee who matches your level of commitment. After all, it’s your business, your baby, and your equity. But if they are not committed to everything they need to be doing to succeed in their particular role, their commitment is conditional. And conditional commitment isn’t committed enough.
5. Do they share your values?
Your mission, vision, and values should be communicated by you and understood by everyone in your organization. The behavior of your people will tell you how much they understand and, once they understand, share your values. If you, as a leader, have done your job articulating and communicating your company's values, yet your employees continue to act in ways counter to those values, they have decided that they do not share these values and/or these values aren’t important to them.
Are you struggling to build a team that can build the business you want? Contact Lushin today to see how we can assist you to staff and structure a team that will take your business to the next level.
