← Return to Posts

“Oh, for God’s Sake!” – 4 Critical Indicators to Help You Come to Grips with the Fact It’s Time to Part Ways

May 5, 2016 Jeff Lesher

Make a change

Over the years, I’ve worked hard to provide good counsel to a myriad of smart, talented, and successful leaders.

One of the areas of greatest consternation we’ve encountered together is getting the leader to come to grips with the fact she already knows: it’s time to let someone move on to discover their next great adventure. For many reasons – some well-intentioned, some of avoidance, and some just flat out denial, otherwise deft leaders flip, flounder, and risk flopping by not dealing with members of their team who no longer merit inclusion.

What’s interesting is that the leaders I’ve worked with almost always know what they should do … they’re just not ready to make the necessary move and do it. My aim in this blog is to help leaders to recognize that they should act to exit someone from their organization and to do so now. Don’t wait any longer.

Here are some of the critical indicators that it’s time to make a change:

Uncertain Value—We know what the person should be contributing, but we’re not realizing the appropriate return on the expectation. The jobholder can’t tell us how he or she creates value nor can others. You’re left constantly wondering what is their value add to an organization, and that’s never a good place to be in.

Resistance—This comes in two varieties:

1. The person is not with your program – no matter how many times and ways you establish the behavioral expectations of what good looks like, the individual does not show up and engage in ways that are consistent with them; and

2. Everything in dealing with this person requires too much effort, including having to be too tailored to their particular mindset so as not to cause greater friction and the resistance that stems from it. If you’re walking on egg shells just to avoid resistance – it’s not a good sign.

Negative Ripples—Pay attention to what others are saying about working with the colleague in question and how they act in his/her presence – especially those who’ve earned your trust and respect because they ARE what good looks like. When your people start complaining or acting like there’s a difficulty with a particular individual then it’s time to take action. One bad apple can really spoil the whole bunch. Of course, we also need to know what our clients think as well.

Compare and Contrast—PBS’ Sesame Street has the “One of these things is not like the other” song and game, and it’s time we all start singing it again. When you assess folks on your team and you think of the people bringing it at a high level every day and doing so in ways that look, sound, and feel good, you then have a picture of what everyone should be giving you now or progressing to that level. Anyone who isn’t and doesn’t seem likely to – when you’re honest with yourself – is someone you should be preparing to exit.

I’m not a cold-hearted person, just the opposite. When you don’t fit and thus can never really excel in an environment, it sucks, for both parties. As the “bad fit” you’re unhappy and unfulfilled in that position. You’re probably trying, but it just isn’t working. The great country singer, Ray Price, crooned, “Please release me, let me go…” We should take his advice and help people find the right place for them. When we do that, we’re more respectful of them, of the team that is performing, and of our clients.

The thing is that we KNOW all this … and yet we delay, we rationalize, and we emotionally contort. I’ve learned to be far less patient with this process and reflect my honest reaction nakedly back to my clients when I hear all of this: “Oh, for God’s sake! Listen to what you’re saying, get out of your own way, and do the right thing…for everyone.” It’s better for everyone.

TOPICS: High Performance, Alignment, Coaching, Employee Engagement