One of the most difficult parts of running a growing business is having to let people go. You would like to think that everyone who joins your team will be perfect fits and will work their heart outs for you. Unfortunately that is not going to be the case.
When I interview successful entrepreneurs one of the recurring themes in the advice they offer is “hire slowly, fire quickly.” Despite that advice, they admit to making hiring mistakes and letting people stay on for too long.
Last week I had to let someone on my team go. It was particularly difficult because she had a great attitude, showed up on time, and tried to work on the projects we gave her – her skills did just not match up with what we needed.
In retrospect I probably did not do a good enough job in the hiring process to make sure she was fully qualified for what we needed her to do. I’ve definitely learned from the experience and will be refining the job description and interview questions when we begin looking at hiring for that position again.
It’s always easier to let someone go who does not fit your culture, is repeatedly late for work and is obviously not enjoying herself on the job. Although I’ve been extremely fortunate with the people I’ve brought on board I have had three previous people who I’ve had to fire for those reasons.
This employee was particularly difficult because she really wanted to be here. We tried for two weeks to try to make it work and alter the job tasks so that it might better fit her skillset. At the end of the day, however, there were still some certain functions we needed accomplished and she wasn’t a good fit for what we needed.
It’s never easy to fire someone, but it’s a skill that you will need to learn as an entrepreneur if you want to grow a business beyond yourself. You’re almost guaranteed to have a sleepless night the day before but your company will be better for you making the decision and the employee will be happier being able to look for an opportunity that better fits his or her skill set and personality.
Have you ever had to fire someone? What did you learn from the experience?
Evan Carmichael
Matthew Toren is an Award Winning Author, Serial Entrepreneur, and Investor. He Co-Founded YoungEntrepreneur.com along with his brother Adam. Matthew is co-author of the newly released book:Small Business, Big Vision: “Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right” and also co-author of Kidpreneurs.
Thats true Evan.
I do agree with your comments .You really dont need a person with a bad attitude in your company. not only they are not good at their work but even worse they try to lower down the standards of other colllagues.
It is a bit easier in hiring and firing employees in a small company .But when it comes to big corporate no body bothers.
I have seen in so many companies people just keep on working for ages even without performing well in the task assigned to them because no body would bother or take the initiative to throw them out. At the most they would recieve some or the other threats for the same from their immidiate manager ( if he/she is any good) but may be that person might have been used ti it ..
But agaian its definately true to have only the right employee at the right time and the right place.
Thanks & Regards
Sanjay Choudhar
Note : you are in my google reader
I agree don’t hire girls just because they are hot, hire them because they are smart and will do the job.