Handling Mishires

A big thank you goes out to our friends at Lattice.com, especially their fantastic features writer Rebecca Vineyard for featuring us in their article, “The Manager’s Guide to Handling Mis-Hires.“

Not all hires go as planned and this article provides solid advice on handling hires you think may not work out. I’m proud that Rebecca quoted me about the importance of handling the situation with honesty and open conversations.

Having this conversation is also a way to get a temperature check on whether they’re receptive to feedback and willing to do what it takes to make things work. “Sometimes the things we take for granted go unseen by new employees. Were they being rude, or are they just trying to be funny and could use some coaching around the standards of cultural behavior in your organization? Did they deliberately mislead you in their report, or did they not understand all of the details required?” said Matthew Turner, the founder of Boston Turner Group. Having an honest conversation can help shed light on what’s really going on. 

Lattice.com: The Manager’s Guide to Handling Mis-Hires

As you might know, our system for business growth, Enterprise Velocity, provides our clients with specific tactics and strategies for creating alignment in your company, managing goals and making your employees as effective as possible. I appreciate the shout out for our ideas about the importance of handling management issues with honesty.

The Most Important Advice I Ever Received About Mishires

The most important advice I ever received about dealing with mishires is to do everything possible to make them successful. If you know you’ve done everything you can to help them and it still doesn’t work out, you can move on to a very realistic and well-documented discussion about why it’s time to move on; however, in the best case scenario, you may find that with the right support and training they turn it around and become a productive team member.

I find it’s best to start with ourselves when our employees are struggling:

• Did I properly communicate our missions and Rallying Cry?
• Does the employee understand our core values or did I fail in communicating them properly?
• Different employees are motivated by different ideas — did I try to connect in the right way?
• Do all of my employees have clearly defined OKRs and do they understand the role they play in our mission and Revenue Blueprint?
• Have I done all I can to encourage trust and accountability?

If you do all you can to coach and train them toward success, in the worst case scenario you can at least let them go with a guilt free conscious. But many times great relationships with long-term employees are developed by navigating difficult issues together.