Fire Someone Today

And Other Surprising Tactics for Making Your Business a SuccessBy Bob Pritchett

Nelson Business

Copyright © 2007 Bob Pritchett
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7852-1262-1

Contents

Introduction...................................................................xi1. Fire Someone Today..........................................................12. You Are the Reason You Are in Business......................................123. Nobody Loves Your Baby Like You Do..........................................214. There Can Be Only One-Plan for Your Partner's Departure.....................325. Don't Hire Anyone You Haven't Interviewed...................................416. Cash Is King................................................................527. Quality, Price, Service-Prioritize..........................................598. Nobody Needs an Optimistic Accountant.......................................679. You Can Always Find 5%......................................................7410. Profit Is Why You Are in Business..........................................8711. If You Are Not Growing, You Are Shrinking..................................9612. Good Systems Protect You from the Perfect Employee.........................10613. The One Who Writes Wins....................................................11814. Read.......................................................................12715. Don't Fly Blind-Build a Dashboard..........................................13716. Visit Everyone in Person...................................................14317. Press Is Yours If You Ask-and If You Want It...............................15218. In Acquisitions, the Buyer Is the Loser....................................16119. Buy Lunch..................................................................16920. Winning Takes 51%..........................................................17921. Some People Are Your Greatest Assets.......................................18722. Business Is a Serious Game.................................................196Acknowledgments................................................................201Endnotes.......................................................................203About the Author...............................................................205

Chapter One

Fire Someone Today

John was not making it in sales. Not in frontline sales to customers and not in relationship-based sales to resellers. John was not a good fit for technical support or administration either.

John was a great guy, and I couldn't bear the thought of firing him, so when a position opened up managing the shipping department, we put John there.

Costs began to rise in shipping. John needed more staff than the previous manager had. Personality conflicts emerged, and soon I was regularly leading long meetings where we worked on issues-costs, quality, personalities-that the department had never had problems with before.

Having already moved John through the whole company, there was only one more move to make. John had to go.

I dreaded firing him. I worried about what he would do, where he would find work in our small town, and how he would support his family. In my mind I took on all his responsibilities as my own. I put off the event for as long as I could until it was clear that the costs and conflicts were endangering the whole organization.

What a relief it was when I finally fired John. Shipping ran smoothly, and costs were reduced. All it cost me was a small burden of guilt and failure. I thought I could carry that weight until one evening when my mother told me she had run into John's wife at the grocery store. I cringed.

"John's wife told me how glad she was that you let John go," my mother told me. "It forced him to think about what he really wanted to do, and he has decided to go back to school and prepare for ministry."

What a relief! I had not ruined John's life. And what a waste, I later realized. In my foolish desire to take responsibility for John, I had helped keep him from his true calling for as much as a year after it was clear to me that he was in the wrong place.

Who Should I Fire Today?

If you have more than a handful of employees, then you probably have some who need to go. The reasons they need to go are varied; each employee is a unique individual and special in his or her own way. Fortunately, we have some big bins you can toss them into for easy sorting.

Whiner. The whiner is happy only when he is unhappy. The whiner is not engaging in constructive criticism and is not taking initiative to address problems. The whiner is just relentlessly complaining. At best the whiner simply annoys everyone around him with his silly, petty complaints. More often he sucks joy out of the organization like a massive leech of discontent. Slacker. You will find slackers all over the office: standing at the coffee machine, sitting at other employees' desks, and lounging with the newspaper in the lobby. Occasionally, you will even find slackers at their desks-surfing the Internet. Incompetent. The incompetent are often well behaved, eager to please, and disciplined in their work. They just don't do it very well. Troublemaker. The troublemaker stirs up discontent and actively works to create "us versus them" divisions throughout the organization: between you and your employees, between individual employees, between departments within the organization, and even between the organization and the customers. More dangerous than self-absorbed whiners, troublemakers set up conflict even when they are not a party to it. Misfit. The misfits are just in the wrong place. They may have a good attitude, good work habits, and even great skills. They just don't get the indefinable it that is the key to success in your organization. Or worse, they do get it, but it is something they don't really care about. They think they can care if they try hard enough, but it is hopeless. Their hearts are not in it. Redundant. The innocent of the group, the redundant is the number two person in a job that one person can do well. Ideally, redundant employees can be moved into other positions, but when that is not an option, it is important to see them for what they are: a wasted resource. The waste is not just of your resources either: if their work is superfluous, then they are wasting their time in a job with no growth or prospects.

How Do I Know When to Fire?

If you already have someone in mind, today is the day.

If you are thinking you need to fire someone, then you probably already have tried to address your concerns about his or her performance in other ways. In order to be certain that firing is the right step, it is good to review the ways in which you already have tried to address the problem. Did you

explain the position and what is required of the employee? provide training on equipment and procedures? conduct informal reviews of performance and outline areas that need improvement? discuss conflicts and differences with coworkers and try to resolve them? ask the employee what he thinks of his performance and how he believes it could be improved? conduct a formal performance review and record the review in...