“I Should Have Done That Way Sooner”
“I should have done that way sooner.” —Every startup leader after firing an unsuccessful employee.
Firing someone is one of the scariest, most painful duties as a leader necessary to ensure the company's health and growth. And because of those awful feelings, startup leaders tend to wait too long to address performance issues on the team.
But even when you know it’s time to fire someone for performance issues, you find excuses to delay.
These challenging situations come in different varieties:
The brilliant a**hole: A top technical performer makes everyone else miserable, but you’re afraid of what will happen to sales/product development if that brilliant person is no longer on the team. Sometimes keeping on a toxic rockstar can last for a little while, but ultimately, they will drive away the other top performers.
The wonderful person in the wrong culture: a beloved member of the team whose performance is struggling to adapt to the changing culture of the company as it grows, and you’re afraid of what it will do to morale to let the person go. Maybe that person can be moved to a different role, but consider whether the person just doesn’t fit at the current size and stage of the company.
The mis-hire: An exciting hire about but after a few weeks, it’s clear it’s not the right person. You’re concerned that it’s going to take too long to fill the role again, so anybody is better than nobody. While the thought of having to take back on work that you had delegated can be a tough pill to swallow, that short-term pain is usually worth it for the right long-term fit.
In each of these cases, the fear comes down to how disruptive a change will be to the business.
However, what leaders might not realize is that avoiding change can hinder continued growth and prove more disruptive in the long run.
Everyone on the team knows who the top performers, underperformers, and toxic people are.
If you don’t address the reality of the team, other employees at best will think you don’t really know how your company “works” and at worst, high performers will leave.
So what’s a leader to do?
Above all, stay compassionate, empathetic, and supportive of employees that are let go. To the extent possible, offer reasonable severance and support transitioning to a new role.
Build a robust, honest performance management process is critical so that everyone knows where they stand in the company. As they say, no one should be surprised when they’re promoted or let go.
Give feedback frequently and transparently on performance. If feedback is being ignored or explained away, then that’s a yellow flag things are not going to get better.
Consider how you’re contributing to a low performing situation—have you really created the environment for that person to be successful?
Making sure the right folks are on the bus through rapid growth is incredibly challenging.
But when you finally do push through the fear, you’ll realize that the company is better off, and the exited employee will be better off in a different role or culture.
