Point 8: Fire ineffective people.Firing people is hard. It’s probably the hardest thing you’ll ever do. People go to absurd lengths to try and make it easier (“we’ll just try him out for a month and see how it goes” is a common one) but they never really help. You just have to bite the bullet and let people go. It’s your job. If you can’t do it, find someone else.
Firing people isn’t just about saving money, or petty things like that. It’s the difference between a great organization and a failure. Inefective people drag everyone else down to their level. They make it so that you can’t take pride in what you’re doing, so that you dread going into work in the morning, so that you can’t rely on the other pieces of the project getting done. And assholes, no matter how talented they may be, are even worse. Conversely, there are few things more fun than working hard with a really nice, talented group of people.
Monday, March 16, 2009
I'm Thinking About Printing This Out and Shoving It Under a Door
Non-hierarchical management principles!
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2 comments:
I hear you, sister. And some managers just don't have the backbone to rock the boat. This is exactly what DC Public School Chancellor, Michelle Rhee, is trying to change. Some teachers are just not up to snuff, unfortunately, and it's the kids who suffer.
Oh, yes, indeed. I live with daily proof of the fruits of the accommodation mindset.
It amazes me how manager types can think they're doing anybody any favors, or perhaps the view is that it's just a wacky family dynamic to be taken as a given, because, well, it just is: "Aunt Florence sure is nutty at gatherings! Keep her away from the clients, but don't you love her at the martini lunches?"
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