Hey, fellow Leader 🚀,
I am Artur, and welcome to my weekly newsletter. I am focusing on topics like Project Management, Innovation, Leadership, and a bit of Entrepreneurship. I am always open to suggestions for new topics. Feel free to reach out to me and share my newsletter if it helps you in any way.
Let me share one very important piece of information that will help you understand where my mindset came from. I was once part of a big organizational program, leading several projects with a team of great professionals who delivered the best KPIs of the entire program. Unfortunately, the program was poorly managed, and this article can't cover the reasons why or go deeper into that story. I just want you to know that one year, a week before Christmas, I received a surprise call from Program Management: I needed to fire 30 people ASAP. So, let's just say, I had a PhD in firing people in a couple of weeks with little justification.
This was an important experience. It provided a unique perspective that still weighs on me every time I need to decide on someone's job. But conversely, if a Developer is playing games with me or the team, I don't hesitate. I can be very fast. The dilemma is: When is a good moment to fire someone?
The answer is in a gray area. Managers often spend too much time realizing the obvious, and things only get worse before they're forced to make a decision. This happens due to the fear of being unfair, which is valid. When a manager recruits someone to the team, there's also a degree of ownership or responsibility. If that person messes up, it's an indirect consequence of the manager’s decision to hire. And that's also true.
I had a university teacher who said the following: "HR is very easy. You recruited a person, and that person is winning and succeeding in the company? Congratulations, the merit is for that employee. On the other hand, if the person is doing badly, congratulations, you messed up."
That provocative statement stayed with me until I became a manager, and it has a degree of truth. If a recruitment isn't going well for some reason, the fault lies at the management level. It could be the wrong job profile, the tools aren't working, the results aren't at the desired level, or it could be an attitude problem from the newly recruited.
Over the years, I started to understand what good and bad recruitments look like, and the majority of the time, attitude plays a big part.
If things aren't going well, but the person shows determination and a will to turn things around, I give them time to adjust to the position. I once recruited a Business Analyst who had a learning curve flatter than the Flat Earth Society’s definition of flat. It was nerve-racking. Only after six months did the guy start to show signs of providing good results. Over a year, he was my best Business Analyst on the team. His attitude was everything here, and it was his determination that helped him overcome all the challenges faced on that project.
Once the pandemic ended and people were returning to the office, I hired a senior developer for one of my teams. During the recruitment process, the office policy (two days a week) was clear, and he accepted the mission. Upon arrival, he started complaining about the days he was supposed to come to the office, almost on repeat. Let's just say I fired the guy on the second day. I understand management is sometimes confused with babysitting, but there are limits. The guy wasn't professional, and the office policy was clear from the start.
So, if you're thinking about whether to fire someone or not, check the person's attitude. Is the person willing? Are they determined to make it work? If yes, I advise you to give that person a shot. Otherwise, don't lose time.
If the person has the right mindset and attitude, but time is passing and results aren't showing up, try to place that colleague somewhere in another team. Maybe it's the tools, the context, the job's roles and responsibilities, or other reasons only you could know. But if that person is trying hard and it still doesn't work out, they're simply in the wrong part of the project. So imagine what that person could achieve with the right role.
That’s it. If you find this post useful, please share it with your friends or colleagues who might be interested in this topic. If you would like to see a different angle, suggest it in the comments or send me a message.
Cheers,
Artur