So often, it seems that the default answer to a problem in an organization is to get rid of someone, often the person at the top. Here’s my take on this: This is a lazy approach that often avoids dealing the root cause. Some examples follow.
Get the Right People on the Bus
It is a cliché to say, ‘Get the right people on the bus.’ While that’s often true, I think that it often means, terminate anyone who doesn’t buy into the group-think. We also hear in the business world about teams and family. Your co-workers aren’t your family; you don’t fire family.
When one considers C-level executives, this is even more prevalent. Surveys I’ve seen indicate the average tenure for CEOs and CFOs is 36 months. For Chief Information Officers (CIOs) it is 18 months! If you’re a new CIO and need to change the information architecture of a company, how much can you accomplish in 18 months? If you answered, “Not much,” you are correct.
Sports Examples
I try to avoid sports analogies in writing about business topics but this is the exception. In college and professional sports this whole approach is commonplace. If a team has a losing season, fire the coach. Never mind that the coach has had lots of winning seasons and they didn’t suddenly become a poor coach. Fire ‘em!
The Decisive Action Illusion
But the approach in American business seems to be that firing someone is seen as decisive action to change an organization for the better. Sometimes, certainly, but this approach is vastly overused (in my view) and deals with symptoms rather than root causes.
A better approach is a root-cause analysis and the use of a long-term viewpoint. Further, recognize that no one is perfect. If any of my readers have ever met a perfect employee, boss, family member or significant other, please introduce them to me so that I might meet my first perfect person.
I particularly see this approach in male-dominated companies. Organizations with females in the top roles are less inclined to fire someone at every opportunity. In male dominated companies, the management team is often like a tankful of piranhas. Can’t we all just do our jobs and get along? I guess not.
Project Employees
Here I’m not talking about employees who work on a projection. I’m talking about an employee who is the project. Yes, occasionally, I’ve seen employers who recognize faults in an employee and decide to keep the person, with their faults, and put them in a position that suits them. I’ve seen this for family members and developmentally disabled people. Really, it could be used more widely. After all, it is difficult to get staff right now and this is an approach that really does treat people as if they were family.
Maybe the Problem is You
Maybe the problem is you, not the employee. Have you done everything you can to help an employee be successful before you let them go? That will be the topic of my next blog.
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