Have You Fired Anyone Yet Today?

Have you ever been fired? I have been. In my case, it was the worst experience of the first 16 years of my life. But I survived and chances are, you did too. But now you may be in a position to fire employees who don't belong in their jobs and it's tough to do.

Part of the reason why it's hard to fire someone could be that we recall the feeling of failure we had when we got fired from our newspaper route or that first job as a bagger at the grocery store. We get sympathetic and so we put off the inevitable. But, listen to what entrepreneur and author Jay Goltz has to say about firing and hiring.

In "The Street-Smart Entrepreneur," Goltz says that firing employees who don't fit into their jobs is something that managers and business owners avoid at their own risk. In his view, it's not fair to yourself, not fair to your business, and certainly not fair to the employee to let someone linger in your employ if he or she is not working out. Make the decision and move on.

Could Hiring be 75% of Management?

"I believe 75% of management is hiring the right people in the first place," says Goltz. He ought to know. He says that he finds it easier now to manage the 100 employees in his $10 million picture-framing business than it was to manage the ten employees he had in his first year. All because of doing the right hiring.

I don't know if I agree that effective hiring is 75% of management, but he is definitely on the right track. Think about it: how much easier would your days be if you didn't have any struggles to get things done right, on time, and with enthusiasm?

There is a second meaning of the word "fired" that I want you to think about. When a piece of pottery is nearly finished, the potter paints it or glazes it (or both). To make the finish permanent, the potter puts it into his kiln one last time. This is called "firing" the pottery. You can, and should, be doing something similar for your employees.

When you fire an employee in the way that a potter fires a ceramic vase, for example, you are sealing in the talents that make him or her valuable to your business. You're helping the employee develop his or her strengths. How do you do this? You can do several things that encourage employees to develop their strengths. Training, coaching, feedback, and regular encouragement all help.

Try a Little Baptism by Fire

Perhaps the best way to help employees to develop their strengths is to give them increasingly more challenging assignments as they are ready for them. A little "baptism by fire" can be a good thing. Just be sure to make each new assignment manageable but a bit of a stretch for the employee's skills and talents.

Give the employee a little encouragement, some reinforcement, accept a few mistakes along the way and you'll see some real growth in both skill and talent.

So, let me ask you again: have you fired anyone yet today? If not, I hope you will soon.

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