Why isn’t your organization moving forward? Perhaps it is because you have the wrong people on your team. Many organizational leaders have people on their teams that they would never hire again. They choose to continue to keep these people on the team finding every excuse to not let them go.
Perhaps you hired a person early on but he is clearly no longer a good fit for your team. Perhaps a person seemed like a good fit at one time but turned out not to be the best fit over time. Perhaps you hired a person because he was there when you needed someone, but now is clearly in the wrong seat.
Jim Collins says in his must-read book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t
Great Vision without Great People is Irrelevant.
You might have the world’s best vision, but you will never see it accomplished with a mediocre team.
How do you know you have the wrong people on your team? What can you do about it?
A person is a bad fit for your team if:
1. You have to Manage Him or Motivate Him.
If you have the right people on your team you don’t have to manage them, motivate them, or discipline them. A solid team member is driven, competent, and works hard. If you have a person on your team that you have to hold accountable to work hard, or carefully manage him than you have the wrong person on your team. You need team members who are self-motivated, hard-working, and driven.
2. You Wouldn’t Hire Her Again if you had the Opportunity.
Ask yourself this question about every person on your team: Would you hire this person again right now if you had the opportunity? If not, then she is likely not a good fit for your team.
3. You Wouldn’t Burst into Tears if He Announced He was Leaving.
Another sign that a person is a bad fit for your team. Would you breathe a sigh of relief if the person resigned? Then that person is a bad fit for your team.
What do I do with a Person who is a Bad Fit?
Free him. Stop procrastinating. Stop avoiding conflict. Stop making excuses.
But isn’t it cruel to let a person go?
It is cruel is to steal valuable years of a person’s life keeping them in a role where they are not gifted or are ineffective. Your compassionate spirit is not a reason to not let a person go. You are keeping that person from a role where he will be truly effective, or from the consequences of his own actions. You are also mis-managing the organization’s resources.
Should I really put the organization in front of the person?
Ultimately what is best for the organization is also best for the individual. (God is sovereign over the organization and the person)
Perhaps the real reason that you are not willing to let a person go from your team is that you fear conflict. Your fear of conflict is not a reason to keep a person in a role that she is not gifted for. Your fear of conflict is not a reason to continue to invest valuable resources in a person that is the wrong fit for the organization.
Also Read: Firing 101: How to Fire a person
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