Hire Slowly & Fire Fast

The need to make tough decisions and move people along quickly.

I know. It’s a cliché but I recently did a presentation on this topic at an event in Montreal and was surprised with the challenges people are facing with this. Not the ‘Hire Slowly’ part. Generally we are getting pretty good at screening. Companies are spending more time and money assessing candidates and assuring that their cultures are protected. Many startups rely heavily on the support of their backers for staff referrals and therefore generally filter well. There is a plethora of information about how to properly select candidates. Not so much when it comes to firing. It’s not politically correct and socially acceptable to talk about letting people go. I’m here to tell you otherwise. It should be as important to your company as the annual retreat.

When we misfire or someone becomes complacent, we take far too long to fire them; or we avoid the issue entirely. 83% of executives and entrepreneurs secretly admit that there is at least 1 person in their organizations that needs to be fired but don’t. Yet we know that poor performing (or culturally cancerous) employees cause great harm to morale, cost a significant amount to carry and have a negative impact on sales/profits. They also draw a huge amount of energy from their superiors and colleagues. They are Energy Vampires for everyone around them. So why is this happening? Why are so many people ‘Firing Slowly’ instead of quickly? There are 3 principle reasons for this:

1. We make too many excuses: “It’s the wrong time/I have to wait until the end of the quarter/It’s the holidays/We didn’t give him-her enough time to get settled/Their mom is in hospital/Their dog just died” and my favorite: “They are too important to the company”. No one is too important or critical to sales. If they harm your culture, they must go. As René Levesque, former Premier of Quebec once said: “Cemeteries are filled with people who were irreplaceable.” If they are a good fit but are not performing, take a bit more time to support and train but if they fail to step-up, fire them. The only safe ones in your business are the great performers who are wonderfully synched to the culture. Everyone else is at play and those who are bad culturally should immediately have the opportunity to succeed elsewhere.
2. We are scared of the tough discussion: Yes, we get weak and absolutey want to avoid the confrontation. That’s human. Yet we are happy to handle the frustrations, deal with the complaints and have the constant sense of stress a bad employee entails. All this over a discussion that should last 12 seconds. Yes, 12 seconds. “Hi _____, I’m here today to tell you that you no longer are employed by our company effective immediately. . _________ here will now walk you through paperwork. I wish you good luck and thank you for the time you spent with us.” 12 seconds and voila! Done! No more stress and frustrations. No more staying up at night worrying about the issue. Oh and by the way, do not offload the firing to someone else. You have the title and the pay, you deal with it. Your employee, your responsibility. Period.
3. We lack leadership: Yes, having a leadership position in a company means you have to actually lead and avoiding the issue is whimping out of your commitments. As Dwight Eisenhower once said: “The worse officers in WWII were not the ones who made bad decisions, it were those who made no decisions.” You have a duty to fire people who need to be fired. How do you know if they need to be fired? You feel it in your gut. The moment you feel it, make the decision, sleep on it 1 night and if you still feel it in the morning, fire them immediately. You will feel much better. If you are avoiding this then you lack the tools to be in your position. Having people who are in charge but are not accountable is the fastest way to kill a company. Wake up and get it done!

Firing people allows for others who are better and more driven to take the spots of the weaker ones. A full 10% of your employees should be replaced every year, even if you are growing quickly. Most experts agree that we mis-hire 1 in 4 people so the need to let go of people is probably higher. It helps move people up who are ready and a solid fit as well as allow outsiders to come in and add value. It makes room and upgrades the overall score of your employee pool.

If you are one of those who recognizes that there is someone that needs to be fired and you have the power to do so, you must now do so within 72 hours or look for a different job. You are not fit to be in a leadership role.

Fire Fast then watch your company or organization grow faster and with better results. Over 90% of executives admit that firing someone was the right decision and most think they should have done it earlier. What are you waiting for? Fire away.