The Hardest Thing

What's the hardest thing you've ever had to do as a leader?

I would think for all of us in these positions the hardest thing is firing someone and I think the risk is always when you know someone's not the right person for a role is waiting too long because the cost to an organization actually is meaningful. One of the most important things that we can do is have the right people in the right roles and when you're under delivering on that you're under delivering for your entire organization so firing people when you know it's the right thing to do you just need to get on with it in the most humane way possible.

What are some of the key things you look for in terms of deciding maybe it's now the time to let that person go.

There are times when the decision is clear and I'm not talking about those times if you have someone who can't perform or is a leader who's discordant I'm not talking about that the issue the hardest part is when you have someone who's functionally okay but they're not going to inspire their team to rise up and achieve the next level or they're missing on some element or you think if you could just change one element of them they would fill in what you need. I think it's imperative to coach so I will I will always start with how do you coach for that one key element and I think it's also imperative to say what is the best in these people are there other higher and better uses for them but the issue becomes when you you want someone in the role because they're functionally delivering certain elements but they're a bottleneck for unlocking really the energy and talent in the rest of the group and that's when it becomes challenging and difficult but as I said I think if you ask most people the biggest mistake is waiting too long once you know that you need to move on.