Making The Hardest Decision

Photo Credit to Bill Ohl

It’s not easy to find good people.

A lot of time, money and effort goes into the process – not only of finding them, but acclimatizing, developing and retaining them.

So when we find someone isn’t performing as we expected, it’s imperative that we do whatever we can to make things right. Open communications, performance improvement plans, clear expectations alignment, whatever is needed. This isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s, financially, the most prudent.

But sometimes, even after all of this work, things still aren’t improving. Our best efforts aren’t yielding results and the performance issues are continuing. What happens then?

Often, the hardest thing to do is cut the cord. We hesitate. We consider another chance. We think that more time will solve the problem.

But, almost always, it doesn’t. We’re rationalizing.

And while we’re rationalizing, the underperformance is continuing. The wrong messages are being sent to the other members of the team, of the organization. The wrong standards are being set.

If you’ve taken the right steps to make things right, then almost always, waiting longer doesn’t help.

Don’t rationalize. Don’t keep waiting. Make the difficult decision.

It’s the right thing to do, for both of you.