"Engineering Management Thought of the Week" Jeff Glass

I do not recall where I first heard this phrase, perhaps from something written by Jack Welch, but they are words to live by as a manager if you have hiring/firing responsibility. Let’s start with “fire-fast”. This phrase primarily speaks to the fact that most of us have empathy for the people we need to let go, ask to move on, fire, downsize, right size, reengineer or whatever other euphemism that you want to use. We feel their pain and can imagine what it would be like to be unemployed. We worry about their personal situation (they just had a baby, their spouse was just laid off, they moved across the country to take this job, etc.), we worry about their reaction when we tell them, we even worry about what they will think of us. Don’t. That is easy to say and impossible to do but the point really is; worry as much as you need to but don’t let it impact your actions. Generally it does so we fire slowly. We wait to make sure the employee has unreasonably long periods of poor performance or that the financial condition of the organization warrants a lay off to make the firing easier or that we have perfect, as opposed to “good enough,” documentation in place (and we procrastinate on getting the documentation). We also run into a “self-bias” problem – if you hired the person then firing them means you were wrong.

So if you think you are being rash and firing someone too fast, think again. The chances are it is just right if you feel that way and if you do it more slowly it will be bad for you, for the organization and even for the person begin fired. The cliché that “it is generally better even for the person being let go” is actually very true in my experience. Think about it – how could it be good for a person to be in a job where they are not performing well? Of course, it might be easier and more comfortable for them but it cannot be good! They need to be in a position where they are challenged enough to be motivated but not so much that their performance suffers and they let other members of the organization down. Thus, taking care of the problem quickly is best for them. It also decreases the amount of time they are uncertain and under significant stress about the situation. Many employees report a feeling of relief after decisions about termination of employment are made, even when they are let go. They get on with their lives and focus on finding a more appropriate position. Another big concern for most managers about firing someone is the oft heard “but it will hurt morale of the rest of the team”. Granted, mass layoffs are a big problem for morale and that situation is beyond the scope of this post. In contrast, firing someone due to poor performance is actually a morale builder in most cases. Do you think the team members and colleagues of the employee are not aware of the poor performance? In reality, they are probably painfully aware of it (even more so than you are) and although they may like the individual personally, they are probably very supportive of the action and wish you had done it sooner!

But let’s be clear about a couple of things regarding the phrase “fire fast”. It DOES NOT mean inhumanely and it DOES mean making sure you follow all of the steps required by state and federal laws. Your HR group can help you understand these laws (even the start-ups I have worked with have an external HR consultant or organization that can help interpret these laws for you; e.g., Adminstaff – http://www.administaff.com/). This means that you give the employee an opportunity to turn their performance around with direct and clear communication of the problems. You also provide them a reasonable amount of time to find a new position and even tools to help them (such as outplacement firms that are experts in this area – I have used LHH (http://www.lhh.com ) and was impressed with their training and counseling). In today’s environment of high unemployment, this training is more important than ever. If formal training is not viable in your organization due to the costs, then your mentoring and coaching, however informal, should include this topic. Employees are responsible for their own careers and career development; including networking, building their resume, keeping their skills up to date, etc. Make sure this message is getting across so you can manage someone out of your organization efficiently AND humanely when necessary. I would even go as far as saying that the term “firing” is not usually accurate in today’s business environment. We should generally think of these changes as natural problems with “fit” rather than simply poor performance. Since it is said that one quarter of all hires don’t work out the way we expect, it should not be surprising that there can be a bad fit. People put on their best faces when they want to get a job, generally at the expense of assessing the fit for themselves. And deciding a job is not a good fit for yourself takes a lot of self-awareness that many of us do not possess, especially early in our careers.

One special note for start-up companies – the fire-fast is all the more critical and all the more difficult! For the start-up company, every day costs you money that you do not have to waste and money which is critical to utilize elsewhere in order to be successful. Yet, in a start-up, there is a feeling of all being in it together with close friendships and a family atmosphere so it is even harder to fire quickly. Don’t let that stop you. Make it humane but make it fast.
On to the “hire-slow” part of the story. Really nothing should be done slowly in today’s competitive business environment. You should be efficient and cost effective in all your activities. But the point is, don’t skimp on the hiring process because correcting a hiring mistake is tough. You will generally live with your hiring decisions for much longer than you want to, even when you are firing fast. So be sure that hiring is done with a TEAM that looks at your potential new recruits from all angles and with enough time to get to know the person and their fit with your organization. Don’t just “fill a slot” because you need a warm body as soon as possible. It will come back to haunt you. See the candidate over a few different meetings and in different settings (formal interview, informal interview and a social setting at least). You may not be able to get consensus on all hires but you should at least understand the concerns of your team and make an assessment of the risk involved with hiring someone despite the concerns expressed. And manage the expectations of the incoming employee up front if you have concerns about the fit. On occasion the prospective employee will pull themselves out of the running when you express these concerns – it was surely the right decision when that happens.

There is nothing earth shattering or new in what I have written above. For those who have managed effectively and overseen hiring and firing it is probably common sense. But for new managers it is a difficult set of concepts to embrace and may even be counterintuitive. Although the idea that we must have skills in developing our employees career is easy to accept and emphasize, it is equally important to be able to make and implement the tough firing and hiring decisions needed in any organization. If you don’t, the employee who is a bad fit will impact your organization in many negative ways – one bad apple can spoil all those around it – even if being bad is just because the fit was not right.