Cut the cord, pull off the band aid, sever employment, etc. Whatever you’d like to call it, it nevertheless needs to be done. Anyone in a position of leadership has from time to time, hired the wrong person. I mean the totally wrong person, not just someone who is mediocre. Once it has been determined to be a very bad hire, the necessary steps to remove that person, need to take place. And, the quicker the better. Most of the time, a bad hire occurs from making a decision from a point of weakness, rather than strength.
When hiring, it is always better to hire slowly. When we are shorthanded, we want to hire quickly, and that is when the mistakes start to happen. We can sometimes hire to fill the position that is empty, rather than hire the best possible candidate. If we hire slowly, it weeds out many candidates that just “want out” of their current job and do not care where they land. We want candidates that “want in” to the opportunity we are offering, more than they “want out” of their current job.
Once we have identified a bad hire, we must act swiftly. It is never an opportunity to put someone down and make them feel bad about “why” we are removing them. We should speak the facts of how the person is not meeting the basic needs of the position, encourage them to land on their feet, and close the door for other possible positions within the company. In doing so, there will be light at the end of the tunnel and certainly will not be a train coming the other way. However, if we do not act swiftly, the collateral damage can be huge. The damage can range anywhere between employee moral to lost customers, and more. In that case, the light at the end of the tunnel will indeed be a train coming the other way.
EBTGains 