There’s Two Reasons to Fire Someone

Summary

• I believe there are two main reasons to let someone go: cultural fit and performance issues.
• Cultural issues are more about soft skills, while performance issues relate to hard skills.
• Cultural mismatches are larger problems and more difficult to address.
• It's important to consider where my time is best spent—should I invest more in someone struggling with culture issues, or in others who are performing well?
• Firing someone for cultural reasons can be really hard because it's like telling them to change something fundamental about themselves.
• It often feels unfair to ask someone to change who they are, especially if it's something they don't understand or can't easily fix.

Video

How To Take Action

I would suggest focusing first on identifying and addressing any cultural fit issues within your small business or personal environment. This is key because it deals with soft skills and can be tough to rectify. Start by observing whether team members align with your company values and attitudes. If cultural discrepancies arise, consider whether it’s worth investing time in mentoring these individuals or if it's better to focus on those who already exhibit the desired cultural traits.

A good way of doing this is by having open and honest discussions, offering feedback, and setting clear expectations regarding company culture. This doesn’t have to be time-consuming; even quick, regular meetings can be highly effective. It helps in understanding if the person is willing and able to adjust their approach to better fit the team culture.

For personal growth, reflect on your cultural fit within any group or organization you are part of. Are your values in sync? If not, consider whether you are willing or able to adapt, or if it might be better for your growth to find a more aligning environment.

Always prioritize addressing these cultural issues first. They tend to be more challenging than performance issues, since they deal with fundamental aspects of behavior and attitude rather than just hard skills or productivity. This approach ensures you're investing your time in the most impactful way possible, either by nurturing alignment or by redirecting energy to those who mesh well with your culture.

Full Transcript

there's usually two reasons you fire someone it's either cultural or it's performance this is linked more to the soft skills and this is linked to the hard skills this is a bigger issue and harder to solve is it worth my time to meet with this person with this giant discrepancy twice a week when I could be meeting with my other teammates who were doing well twice a week where do I get the higher Roi and so a lot of times if somebody's not a culture fit then it means that we're not going to go through a lot of the steps because what am I to inform them hey you're a [ __ ] dick and I didn't know can you change that like it's just very painful it's a shitty process for them and for me because I'm asking them to do something that they don't know how and it's [ __ ] impossible for them