1 Critical Mistake to Avoid in LEADERSHIP Training

So I had to fire a top producer in my first leadership role. And my boss's boss's boss was not happy I was a new leader. I was actually asked to relocate for this leadership role. I moved my family. It was at the beginning of the Great Recession. There was a lot of pressure for me to make this job work. I was allowed to bring a tenured producer to the market to help me get the market up and running. Now, this individual, her name was Karen. Historically, she'd done pretty well inside of the organization. So I was ecstatic to have somebody like Karen to launch the market with. And because it was a new market, we had pretty aggressive goals that corporate had given us. Pretty early on, Karen landed a large contract with an organization. This customer had an urgent need to staff this technical service desk. So this immediately became a top priority for us. Now part of the screening process. Early on, our role was to find people to fill the roles inside of this technical service desk. And the client had given us the test to use as part of the technical screening process. These candidates were required to pass this before getting to the final interview, which obviously this helped us realize that we were selecting the right people to get to the final interview. Now, we were one of three other suppliers that were awarded this contract. But week after week after week, we continued to finish on top. Our team was performing the best. I couldn't be happier. And I gotta be honest, I was thinking this leadership thing was pretty easy at this point.

Boy, was I wrong. A few days later, I got a phone call from one of our consultants that nobody wants to get. What I learned on this phone call was that Karen was actually giving the answers to the test to the candidates. Literally, she was cheating the system. No wonder we were performing pretty well week after week. All the joy that I had been experiencing immediately was drained. Honestly, I didn't really believe it. So I reached out to some other folks just to confirm what I heard. And despite my disbelief, I discovered that it was true. She was given the answers to the test immediately. It was pretty clear what I needed to do. When Karen got back to the office, we. We sat down, we met, we chat, we had a talk about the situation. And at first, she denied it. And I said, you have an opportunity to tell me the truth. Don't lie to me. You lie to me, it's immediate termination. I've always had a zero tolerance on lying. Again, she denied it. So our meeting ended that evening. I was able to confirm with the client what we knew was true. She was cheating on the test. So the next morning, I. I confront Karen to give her another chance to be honest, tell the truth. And she started backtracking, saying things like, well, I didn't really give them the answers to the test. Maybe a couple hints here and there. She still didn't own up that she was lying. So I terminated her on the spot. And then our client calls again to confirm that they were terminating our contract. I was officially in freakout mode. I'd already moved my family here. We were moving into a new house. Our previous house hadn't sold yet. We're in the middle of the great resignation, like things are crazy. And the client had a long pause on that phone call and proceeds to tell me that because of our actions in terminating the top producer, that their core values were honesty and integrity. And they took those values seriously and they want to work with partners that share those same values. And so they didn't terminate our contract. Interestingly enough, they actually awarded us a larger portion of the contract. And now that was over 15 years ago. And my previous organization is still doing business with this organization. That's how well they take their core values seriously. Had I not made the decision to terminate Karen, we would have lost that contract that day. Think of the lives that have been positively impact over the years doing business with this client. The number of people, the number of employees that we placed at that organization. Had I hesitated and not made that decision, none of this would be possible. And even worse, we would have been perceived as an organization that lacked integrity. Look, we all make mistakes. You just have to own them when you make them. If you like stories like this, subscribe to this YouTube channel where all things are going to be about leadership and personal development.