Why didn’t you fire this person?
I have a “checkered” past. Meaning, I have been working for corporate America, a start-up, corporate America, a start-up… that kind of a checkered past.
From each, I learned what to do, and what not to do.
When I worked for someone, in a corporate role, I made mistakes, like everyone else. Small, medium, big mistakes. Some of the small and medium mistakes a person makes, may never be known. It may not be seen by anyone including the person who made it, or the person can cover it up.
The big mistakes are hard to hide, by design. Some are so embarrassing and personally deflating, that you want to have the Earth swallow you whole. You know the kind of faux-pas I am referring to?
If I loved my job, and cared for the mission of the company – I know that I would learn from the mistake, feel remorse about causing it, and NEVER do it again. Moreover, I would be keenly aware of others who may cause the same mistake, and be a constant guard against it.
If I do not care about the job, the mission, the team, the company… then I will make this mistake again one day, even inadvertently.
What I learned from this is, that the decision to fire someone or not, is less about the mistake’s severity. The decision is about the person, and their relationship to the mission.
If the employee really cares about the work done, and feels remorseful about the mistake, they take responsibility for it – then they will NEVER do it again. Not at their current employer, and not at a future one.
So by letting them go, the following happens:
- Your company suffers the consequences of the mistake.
- The employee is distraught over the consequences; letting the team down, the shame of messing things up etc.
- You spent time, energy, money to train and coach the employee. This includes their learning from the mistake they just made while on your payroll.
- You are going to let this employee go WITH the learning of never making this mistake again – to deliver that value ELSEWHERE.
In this equation, you are compounding your losses by letting them go.
Its not intuitive, I know.
An employee who expected to get fired, and got spared, will not only never make the same mistake – they will be loyal and grateful. They will learn on their own skin the value of knowing when NOT to fire someone else.
That is why I did not fire this person.
My team may ask: “So when do you fire a person?”
I can tell by how the employee reacts to the mistake, if they should keep their job. I can tell if they will never do it again – or if they are not accepting responsibility for it, and thus, will absolutely make this mistake again.
Most employees assume that by admitting a mistake, and taking responsibility for it, they will get fired. The opposite is true if you want to keep talent around.
Everyone makes mistakes. Its how you handle them, and react to them that should determine if you get to keep your job or not.
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