Is it time to let someone go? Avoid delaying decisions that will cost you time, money and energy in the long run.
Keeping people in roles where they cannot be at their best is doing them a disservice, and eroding your credibility.
Why I don’t believe in job security.
I could not wait to join the workplace. I even remember my locker room neighbour in high school telling me I was destined for business. She insisted there was no other option for me. She wasn’t wrong.
I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into the corporate world. Having an Executive Recruiter entrepreneur dad and Corporate Taxation mom, I was a groomed employee.
My first year in the workplace was sobering. I was on a one year contract that was coming up to finish. No one had said anything about a renewal so I naturally assumed the worst. Then news of layoffs hit, and on the last day of my contract they cut the 100+ marketing team down to 10 people. I waited patiently in my cubicle (RIP) as I watched my colleagues get called into the Director’s office to learn their fate, often walking back in tears. As I was the last cubicle before her office, it was like I had a front row seat.
The day was coming to an end, and my call had not come. I waited patiently as everyone else left. At 5pm the Director’s EA knocked on my door, “Gillian, she’d like to speak to you.” I had already made my decision that I was going to move to the UK so I wasn’t too stressed. I sat down in her office and she shared that I wasn’t even on the org chart and she would like to extend my contract for another year and they were going to need a lot of help.
I was stunned and confused. Why was I being offered a job when those that had the institutional knowledge were being let go.
This experience taught me two lessons that have shaped my career decisions to this day:
Job security is a myth. Get comfortable owning your own value and telling your story.
In a boom be an employee, in a bust be a contractor. Know how to be good at both.
The types of low performers.
Starting off my career being jaded and since dabbling in some HR / Ops roles, I’ve had to learn the muscle of letting people go. This is a muscle I hope to help others build as a weak one causes more problems than good.
There are three types of people that fall into the let go bucket:
Toxic. These people are “easier” to let go because they don’t come across as nice people and managers will usually wait until they do something so horrid, they “have no other option”. However the destruction they cause in being around is hard to recover from.
Incapable. Nice people, wrong role. Despite the feedback they can’t seem to read between the lines. They get along with everyone but they don’t deliver.
Outgrown. Either the organisation has outgrown them or they have outgrown the role and don’t want to stretch themselves to the next level.
Are you eroding your leadership credibility?
In each scenario, your leadership credibility will be eroded the longer you keep people around.
Having witnessed some eye watering pay-outs, letting people go sooner rather than later is always a good idea. Here’s why:
Well intentioned managers that hold onto poor performers without any performance management system (documentation, clear goals) end up having to pay significant amounts of severance pay.
The avoidance of making that payment leads to them keeping them on for longer, in hopes that the individual self-actualises and leaves on their own accord.
Nice people do irrational things, especially when a hands-off, conflict avoidance manager does them a fast one by being nice to their face and then sending in HR to end their contract. They feel wronged and look to seek justice.
Although we can see people’s potential, some people aren’t ready to step into it, and your job is not to ‘fix’ people but support them. If someone isn’t responsive to your management, you will be on the losing end of that arrangement.
Companies evolve as they grow. Some people evolve with it, some don’t. It’s the circle of employee lifecycle. Holding on to people because they’ve been there from the start but clearly are not succeeding in their role is not doing them a favour.
Avoid manager guilt by doing feedback all the time instead of kicking it down the road until it becomes a ‘big' deal’ that you will most likely avoid.
Whatever the reason, as a leader there is no avoiding the painful and uncomfortable task of letting someone go. It’s NOT one of those things that gets easier but it has to be done.
A Letting Go Guide
I’ve advised many leaders over the years to help identify if a team member needs to be let go. I sound like a broken record, so I decided to turn it into a framework.
*I’ve had some early feedback that the “Is there another team member that could influence them?” needed some clarity. Here’s why that is there.
I’ve had team members that I have inherited that clearly had an issue reporting to me. No matter what was coming out of my mouth, it was not being heard. That doesn’t mean they don’t have value to the business (unless they are actively undermining you) but it might make more sense to move them under another manager that will get the best out of them. This is not always possible, so skip over if not relevant.
Can you avoid the unavoidable?
No, but you can implement good practices that make those conversations more straightforward.
No surprises. Everyone in your team should know where they stand.
Feedback is an ongoing dialogue, not a big moment.
Feedback should be coming your way as much as it's going to your team.
Your priority is to set priorities, give focus, and communicate context.
Make a point to celebrate behaviours you value, if you can do it in public, even better.
Don’t cancel your 1:1s (but they also don’t need to be an hour a week!!).
In your 1:1s 80% of your time should be spent listening (and don’t talk about yourself).
My final two cents.
Still unsure? Compare the cost of severance vs the cost of your time and energy spent on managing and thinking about them (including how much time you speak of this person outside of work). How much time do you spend on them vs your high performers or future leaders?
Letting someone go is hard but you’re not doing them a favour keeping them in a job where they can’t be their best. Let them find the role that will enable them to thrive.
You got this.
G