MBA1609 How to Prevent an Employee From Being Fired

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You want the people that you hire to be successful with you, right? One of the things I'm really proud of at Webinar Ninja at the $100 MBA is our retention rate. Our employee retention rate for the vast majority of the time. Most of our employees stick around for a very long time. So I want to share with you some strategies to make sure your employees are successful with you. How to prevent them from actually not doing so well, which will cause you to have to fire them. Obviously there will be exceptions. You know. Of course there will be things that will be out of your control. Some people might do things that you just will have to fire them immediately. But we're not talking about that. Of course, we're just talking about people not doing the job that they were hired for. We want to make sure that they actually fulfill on the job description and thrive in your business. So let's get into it, let's get down to business. So let's make sure together that we minimize the number of employees we have to fire. And it begins with hiring. It begins with hiring the right person for the job. Sometimes we hire somebody that is good, but not for the job we're hiring for. So therefore they don't actually do what you're asking them to do or do what you need. It's really not their fault in some way. This is why I highly recommend spending a good amount of time creating a really good job description. Really making sure that you're being clear about what you're expecting this person to do. This will attract the right person. That way you hire somebody that is more likely to be successful. Also in the hiring process. When you're vetting employees, when you're vetting people to fulfill that job, always hire based on experience or history and not potential. So ideally you want to hire somebody who has done already in the past what you're asking them to do. This is sort of a guarantee that they can actually do what you're asking them to do. But if you're just asking to do something brand new in the hopes that they have the potential to do it, in the hopes they have the talents to do it, that's on you, not on the person you're trying to hire. That's kind of your fault. So hire people that have done already what you're asking them to do, at least the bare minimum there of their KPIs. Next, when they are hired, you need to make sure that you clearly state to them, this is what winning looks like in our company. This is how you win at your job. This is how you actually achieve success. You gotta tell them how to win. So that includes, you know, telling them, hey, this is what you're responsible for. These are your KPIs. This is where you're gonna be judged on and evaluated on so they understand, okay, this is what I'm getting into. This is what I need to make sure I do well. Make sure that's crystal clear. And then you need to check in on them regularly, especially in that first year. So I like to definitely do three month evaluations every three months for the first year. Because I found in my experience, sometimes in interviews, sometimes in orientation calls, you'll say something once, twice, three times, and It'll kind of go over their head or maybe it won't be fully comprehended because maybe they've been through a lot of interviews. Maybe they're just nervous, maybe they're just not totally focus on every single word you said because maybe it was like a long call and they'll miss something. They'll maybe have some misalignment with your expectations. But if you check in with them every three months, you can say, hey, this is what I'm judging you on. This is what I think is success for you in this role. And they'll be like, oh, I missed the mark on that. Or yeah, I need to focus on that. Sorry, I didn't know that. Or I missed that. And you can really kind of course correct quickly before it's too late, before they spent, you know, years with you or worse. Sometimes, you know, five, six, seven, eight years within that first three months period. I like to do weekly one on ones. Now I may not do that as a CEO, but the manager of that department will. And this is a quick, you know, five, ten minute call just to check in on them, make sure that if they have any questions, if they have any concerns that they're addressed next, just in time. Feedback is so important. So whoever is managing their direct line manager, who's managing this person really needs to understand this. They should never let anything go that's not acceptable. Whether it's the way they spoke to a customer, whether it's maybe coming in late or not really having a valid excuse, or maybe, you know, not being professional or being rude in some way in a meeting, anything that's kind of, you know, that didn't feel right or that's not how we do things here. You need to nip that in the bud immediately. You need to have a quick one on one call with that person, say, hey, listen, this is not acceptable. This is not winning in our company, okay? And, and if you don't do it just in time, the longer you wait, the worst chance you're going to have to turn this person around because they're going to say, hey, I've been doing it for weeks now and that's not a problem. I didn't think it was a problem. And it's kind of like a bad habit. But you don't have to make this confrontational. You can just make it very, very friendly and factual. Be like, hey, it's awesome to have you on the team. I really want to make sure that you feel supported and part of my job of making you feel Supported is giving you course correction along the way, giving you feedback where you can really improve and succeed. This is why I wanted to call this meeting. I noticed in our last team meeting, you made a comment that was so and so, and the comment itself is okay, and you should voice your opinion. We celebrate differences here, and that's totally okay, but we always do it with respect. You know, it was a bit abrasive, and it kind of dampened the mood, and it didn't allow other people to speak after that. I'm not sure if you caught that, but if you didn't, I just wanted to bring it to your attention because I want to make sure that, you know, everybody gets along with each other, that you have a great time here and you know, what's cool, what works here and what doesn't. So I just wanted to kind of take a timeout and just point that out and doing it with a smile, doing it as a form of training really helps, you know, kind of encapsulate the intention behind this, because you really don't want them to get to the point where it's just like, escalated, escalated, escalated, and it's goodbye. And this is sort of like a tough situation, you know, like, it could be a lot more subtle than that. But the point is, just in time. Feedback is important. Next. If things don't improve, it's your job to hold them accountable and tell them that they're on thin ice. You have to say, hey, I'm calling a meeting because we're not happy. You have to just flat out say it because otherwise they're going to think something else. They're going to assume something else. They're going to think, oh, this is just training. They'll be like, no, this is not training. Now, I'm here to tell you we're not happy because you're not hitting your KPIs, you're not fulfilling your responsibilities, you're not doing XYZ. This cannot continue to happen. We want to see you improve. And if it doesn't happen, we're going to have another call. Like, this is not going to be fun, but it's imperative for me to make sure you know that you're going down the wrong path. And the wrong path leads to, we're not a good fit, and we're going to have to say goodbye to each other. We're not there yet, and I think we don't have to get there. But today, I'm telling you, we took it one step closer there, let's reverse it. You have to tell them the reality of the situation, that they are moving towards that firing line. Now this does a whole bunch. First of all, it just screams transparency and honesty. It also says, hey, we're a serious business here. We want winners, we want a players. Are you an A player? Show me you're an A player. That's what I said. It says, show them what you got. Because right now I don't see it. Next, it sets things up so they know that, hey, you're not going to let things slip and if things continue, this is the result. You're just showing them the reality of the situation. This is not a charity organization, right? We don't give jobs out for free. We don't give salaries out for free. We need a roi. We need a return on the investment we're making you. And then lastly, you got to make sure you tell them, hey, having said all this, what can I do to help? How can we make a U turn? Do you need more training? Do you need some more support? Do you have some issues that are not resolved in your personal life and you need a day or two to sort them out? Give them some options. Tell them right now what's going on. Not working. So we got to make a change. So you tell me what can I do to help make that change and make some suggestions and see what the response is. Put the onus on them. Their job is to perform. They're currently not performing. Let them know that and say, hey, we got to course correct now. This is not where we want to go. This is the wrong path. Let's turn around. What are we going to do different? What are we going to do differently to make a change? This actually works because it's sort of a wake up call. It's also often it doesn't go past that one warning because they realize either I'm a bad fit and I'm going to have to leave. And sometimes it ends right there on that call or on that conversation, right? Or they're like, man, I'm going to lose this amazing job. I gotta shape up right now. And it's really a great way to kind of just say slap. Not slap in the face, but just like a slap of cold water in the face. Wow, I'm awake now. This is real. I'm so glad they were honest with me about what was going on because a lot of people tiptoe around it and then all of a sudden they just fire them. Like, what happened? I thought everything was fine. Yeah, I was kind of lacking here and there. But I thought we're all good and jolly. Everything's fine. It's important for you to let them know when it's not fine because then they know they need to change something. America, America, you used to be so fun but now you go to bed at night scrolling on your phone. Well listen up America Carnival is here with world class crew and ropes course too. And comedy and snorkeling and dining like everything from the sea to shining sea. Find your fun again@carnival.com Carnival is calling ships registry Bahamas and Panama.

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Up today's episode, if you've gone through all the steps I talked about to prevent from firing somebody on your team, sometimes you're going to have to pull the trigger and say, we're not a good fit. We're going to have to move on from you. Treat them with respect. And anytime you let go of anybody on the team or somebody who leaves, you need to communicate that with the rest of the team because you can't just have somebody disappear and everybody like, what happened to that person, Everything. Okay, am I next? You need to make sure that you communicate and be transparent with your team and say, hey, George, awesome guy. I really love this personality. You get along with a lot of people. He brought XYZ to the table, but unfortunately he wasn't able to hit these outcomes. We tried to work with him, we tried to make it happen. We did xyz. It's okay for you to talk about that with your team because you need to understand what are the grounds of firing here. People get fired for anything. No, this is what happened. 1, 2, 3, 4. This is the procedure. This is what happened. These are the good points. But unfortunately we hired the person to do XYZ and they didn't do xyz. So we kind of gave one warning, two warning, three warnings, had a whole bunch of conversations, offered some training, still didn't work. And then we came to the conclusion we're not a good fit and that's okay. We're not going to be a good fit for everybody. That's what makes everybody on this team so special. That's here, right? That's working here. So have that transparent conversation with your team. If you're managing them or the manager in the team has to take that responsibility. That wraps up today's episode. Thank you so much for listening to the Hundred Dollar MBA show. If you want more great content, great clips from the show, freebies, go ahead and follow us over on Instagram, over@instagram.com the100, MBA. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I've been running businesses for over 15 years or so and firing somebody is never easy. It doesn't get easier. You know, it gets slightly easier because you just understand what to expect. But I want to honestly say that it never feels okay. You know, that day is kind of shot when you have to fire somebody. It's kind of, you know, a hard thing to do because you never want to deliver bad news to somebody. We're not cold hearted people out here. But you have to understand your job as a leader of the business is to do everything you can to make sure the business is successful for everybody involved. For those employees that are doing their job, that are actually delivering and making it happen. You have to do your job to make sure that the business is delivering on your promises to your customers. If somebody on your team is not helping you make that happen, it's just not working. You have to cut them loose. That's your responsibility. It's a tough responsibility, but it's yours. So go through the steps. But when you have to fire, just go ahead and do it and understand you're doing it for the greater good of the business, the people involved and your customers. Thank you so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode Q and A Wednesday. I'll see you then. Take care.

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