Leadership storms are inevitable.
Last week, I wrote about the crosswinds that create cultural chaos and the importance of protecting a healthy organizational culture.
I ended by pointing out that sometimes protecting that culture requires more than encouragement and communication. Sometimes it requires making decisions that no leader enjoys making.
That brings me to a third leadership storm: the tough choices tornado.
One of the most damaging things to maintaining a healthy culture is a toxic employee. Keeping a poor-performing employee around for too long can infect your culture.
High-performing people will wonder why they work so hard for results, while poor performers are not held accountable.
Toxic employees will often complain and demotivate those around them. If they are influential, they may turn other employees against you.
Giving Employees an Opportunity to Improve
I have never been quick to terminate people unless an action was so egregious that it merited immediate dismissal.
People deserve clear job descriptions, support, coaching, and accountability. I don’t allow managers to criticize employees’ behavior in a performance review unless they addressed the issue at the time it occurred.
Employees deserve to be regularly coached.
There are times when an employee can’t perform because the role is not the right fit. Jim Collins suggests that you could have the right employee in the wrong seat. I always try to find an alternative seat for the employee, if one is available.
If no alternative position is available, you should offer the employee a generous offboarding and help them transition in the best way possible.
Making the Difficult Decision
When toxic employees have been coached and performance improvement plans have been implemented, but they refuse to improve, they must be removed from the organization.
Nothing creates an internal tornado like the tough choice to end someone’s employment.
Gino Wickman calls it “36 hours of pain.” The leader’s mind and stomach will churn over the uncomfortable conversation and process that will follow.
If your assessment is accurate that the employee is toxic to the culture, and the process includes a fair system of accountability, you are not likely to regret it.
Your best employees will appreciate accountability for ensuring all employees live up to your organization’s way of life.
Leading with Integrity Through the Storm
It will be essential to communicate to employees the reason you dismissed the employee in a way that respects their dignity and adheres to good HR practices.
You will likely be unable to give details to employees, which will leave room for questions.
I have found that employees will trust the integrity of a leader’s decisions if that leader has proven themselves to be trustworthy.
The “tough decision tornado” will inevitably arise at some point during the journey. This is one you will need to prepare to face head-on.
Leadership is usually not what most of us anticipate. Being a CEO is a vastly different job from what most people think it is.
Leadership is not for the faint of heart.
