Success

Having an individual in a position that they are not suited nor competent is exceptionally draining. Even though uncomfortable, it is crucial to address these relationship challenges head-on as it is best for the individual and your own success in the long run. 

Employee Retention

Retaining an individual on the team who is not a good fit can equate to a cost of 15X their salary. From personal experience, I have made two exceptionally bad and costly hires in the past, and they were stressful experiences and not ones that I would make again. No matter what level you are in the organization, whether C-Suite Executive or Manager, we all struggle with how to move forward in ensuring we have the RIGHT people in the RIGHT job.

As an employer, it is our responsibility to provide a workplace or virtual environment for our employees to enable them to be productive. However, it is the employee’s responsibility and job to be productive. 

Difficult Conversations

It is a given that there will be times when hiring, no matter the selection processes you have in place or how careful you are in the process, that issues will arise. The best tactic to achieve success then is to act as swiftly as possible to negate the damage that a bad hire can make. When you are in a position whereby the employee is not meeting expectations, productivity levels are low, or they are simply not the right cultural fit, it is time to act. Analyze the expectations you laid out upon hiring, their actual competency and skill levels to the position responsibilities and detail the performance deficits or gap in the organizational cultural fit. Having difficult conversations with the employee is the first step; however, if no significant change in behaviour or performance is achieved, it is time to let the individual go before the team is affected.

Four Areas to Focus on When Determining the Right Fit 

If you are challenged in deciding on a candidate in the selection process or question if a person is an excellent organizational fit, I encourage you to measure them against the four personal categories below:

1. Grit: Has the individual proven that they are innovative and able to think outside the box? Do they have a desire to be better and do better professionally? Do they want to excel and continuously develop and grow? Has the individual given examples of how they have demonstrated perseverance? Do they receive constructive feedback well? Are they resilient? By that, I mean willing to try, fail and try again?
2. Result orientated – Are they motivated to achieve KPI’s to succeed? Are they driven, able to create momentum and focused on the results they want to achieve?  Are they able to recognize what results are important? Are they able to outline and execute on steps needed to achieve the desired results of their position? 
3. Skill Set – Do they have the skills for the job? Will they able to competently perform their tasks with confidence? Do they possess core professional skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving, teamwork and collaboration, strong work ethic, oral and communication skills? 
4. Values – Are they a good fit with the work culture? Are their core values aligned? 

Indicators That Will Help You Determine If You Need To Let a Person Go

1. Lack of Integrity: a non-negotiable is integrity; no-one on your team will want to work with an individual who has a lack of integrity and is a person that they cannot trust. If they lie, misinterpret a situation, backstab or gossip, these are behaviours that don’t tend to go away. If there is a lack of trust, they should not be on your team. 
2. Continual Poor Performance: if you have given the employee training, guidance on expectations, and their performance cannot meet your minimum expectations, it is time to terminate. Poor performance affects others on the team, and it’s not something that can be hidden.
3. Affecting The Morale of the Team: If an employee has a toxic attitude and is poisoning others’ environment, this will not usually turn around. As a leader, it is our job to protect our great employees as they are hard to find, and we want them to stay motivated and enjoying their job, so if someone is affecting that, they need to be removed.
4. Unreliable: If an employee is unable to meet deadlines, regularly arrives late or leaves early, is hard to get a hold of, or does not follow through on promised action for team members, they are unreliable, and their behaviour is unlikely to improve.
5. Lack of loyalty:  if the individual is damaging internal or external relationships, is an instigator in pitting individuals against each other, or does not respect you and undermines your efforts as a leader, the bottom line is that they are impacting your business and keeping them on is more damaging than letting them go.  

Letting People Go

Letting people go is difficult; it is timely, stressful, and involves a lot of work to ensure it is executed with care. For many, this is something that they will put off; however, be mindful of the impact and cost if you delay. If you have an individual who cannot meet performance expectations, is toxic, unproductive or negatively impacting team members, this requires your immediate attention if you want to have success in the business world. 

Seven Questions To Help You Assess If You Have the Right People To Achieve Success

1. Evaluate each person in your organization, and determine if you have the right people in the right jobs?
2. Is there one or more team members that you consider emotionally draining to work with, and why?
3. Are your people happy and engaged in their positions?
4. Do they enjoy coming to work?
5. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), how much do your people need to be managed?
6. Do you have individuals in the team that continually ‘WOW’ you?
7. If you had the opportunity to re-hire each person on your team, would you?

Tips for keeping people engaged:

• Hire fewer but better people and ensure you pay them well. 
• Enable people to operate to their strengths.
• Show appreciation for the effort and provide recognition on result achievement.
• Be transparent around expectations and KPI’s of staff as this will help set clear expectations and required deliverables.

Leave Your Ego Behind

Hire people smarter than you; leave your ego at the door. You don’t have all the answers, so please don’t pretend you do; if you lead by directing, it will exacerbate team silence, and you will end up carrying the load. As a leader, you should ask the right type of questions rather than lead by your own opinion. Spend time on developing your staff, not on micromanaging. Focus on individuals’ robust capabilities and where there is an identified skill shortfall put a professional development plan in place to help the individual grow. Communicate systems and structures, train, and ensure there is an understanding of expectations and repeat! Is your ego in the way of the success of your business?

If you have problematic staffing issues that you need assistance with, please reach out to askme@jennyreilly.com for a complimentary 15-minute strategy session. This might be the difference between the success and failure of your company.