I have written several blogs about Harley, the goldfish that my daughter saved from the wretched science experiment; recently, I have introduced Coby, our new beloved blue betta.
Last week, Coby was placed in a small cup while Randy cleaned out the fish bowl. Randy walked away, then went back into the kitchen to finish the job. Coby had leapt out of the cup and was flopping around on the counter and gasping! Randy sprang into action and saved the fish from certain death! WHEW!
When an employee resigns from your organization, there is always a certain level of panic. Even in a situation where the resignation is the best thing for the company, employers worry about the ramifications: Will others leave too? Is this indicative of a larger problem here? What will my clients think? How will I get this work done? Should I re-negotiate with this employee in order to retain them? The urge to spring into action and restore the employee to their position is often a first instinct of an employer, as it was when Randy found Coby on the counter.
Despite first instinct, the two situations couldn’t be more different. My advice for an employer in this predicament is this: Help that person leave well. Tell them that you truly appreciate the time that they gave to your organization, and ask what they need from you. Figure out a way to let that person make their exit on good terms so that everyone feels better. You are the boss. You set the tone.
Give your former employee the freedom to be successful and continue on their own path. You will feel better that you did.
One dreary Monday morning, a friend of mine dragged himself into his weekly staff meeting. Sighing deeply, he prayed that his enormous coffee would somehow get him through the worst time of the week… the weekly staff meeting. BORING!!!
This week, however, his manager came in and dumped a huge bucket of Legos on the table. He grabbed the flat green stand, attached three Legos to it, and turned to the employee sitting to his right and said “Take 3 Legos, add it to mine, then pass it to the next person. Let’s see what we can create.” Then, the manager went on with the regular staff meeting. Same format, same information, but the atmosphere had dramatically changed. What the team created was an unnamable, indescribable Lego blob, and a whole lot of laughter on a dreary Monday morning. My friend bounced back to his desk with a spring in his step that had nothing to do with his huge cup of coffee.
What transpired after that was mind blowing. The team got closer, created more, cooperated more, and laughed at inside jokes around the Lego disasters that came out of those meetings. Then, it became the responsibility for other team members to bring an activity to the staff meeting. What really mattered was that manager got his team out of the rut they were in, and suddenly there was a huge shift in energy and innovation.
If you are the manager of a team and you dread your own meetings, then certainly your employees do as well. Take a moment to figure out how to get yourself out of the rut and then provide a cure for the interminable dreaded staff meeting. A little play time does wonders.
(Dedicated to Alex Deison, Logan Deison, Logan Gilbert, Alex Gilbert and Josh Gilbert: the men in my family who are true Lego connoisseurs.)
Last Friday I came home to a fish in a plastic cup on my kitchen counter. My daughter named him Harley. She promptly went out and bought him a really nice bowl with beautiful blue rocks then filled the bowl with fresh water. I thought the fish was dead… really. He laid on the bottom for awhile and then he floated to the top. I tried to tell her that Harley was not going to make it – that he was dead in the water. She did not believe me and kept at it. She kept watching this half dead fish, trying to keep it living through pure will. We watched this fish for hours before he really began to swim around and attack the way-too-may- food pellets that we dropped in his new home. Two days later he is thriving – he looks like he is a brand new fish with a new lease on life.
A client called last week frustrated with his employee of almost 3 years… things were not getting done, balls were dropping and clients were not happy. I coached my client to sit down with his beloved employee and explain how he was feeling. Explain to your best employee ever that balls are getting dropped. Turns out, this really great employee needed fresh water and some attention. Remember, our employees are not us. They do not learn the job through osmosis; they learn it from their boss. And they continue to perform and perfect as a result of that leadership.
So, if you are feeling like your staff is half floating through their work, it is time for some attention. Show them that you are committed to their success by asking them how they are feeling about their work. Simply ask what you can do to help them enjoy their job better. And you know what? It is shocking to me how easy it is to keep your employees engaged and happy with a committed boss who cares enough to ask “Do you need some fresh water?”
And Harley? Well it turns out that he was the subject of a science experiment in my daughter’s science class. She “fish-napped” him because she said he looked dead. I said “Won’t your teacher be mad that you stole the fish from the experiment?”
“Mom,” she said with an eye roll. “The class is called ‘Life Science’, emphasis on LIFE!”
Last week, I met with a new client who suffers from what I call “the Hiring Hangover”. He had just fired a long time employee and had to hire someone else quickly. The whole experience left a really bad taste in his mouth and he was having a hard time getting over it. He kept trying to change his policies and procedures to make sure that he did not get into the same position with a new employee that he had experienced in the past. In other words, he wanted to punish the new employee for the sins of the old employee. While it is completely understandable, it will not work. When you hire a person while “hungover”, you will make a bad hiring decision. You have to feel good about bringing a new person onboard. You have to be excited.
So, how do you recover from a bad hire?
You take a deep breath. Do not hire too quickly. If you need immediate help, hire a temp. Jumping in to a situation with a new hire when you are not ready sets you both up for failure.
Create your ideal candidate list. Put your head in the clouds and dream BIG. And I mean really big, like roses and rainbows and unicorns. You cannot have what you want unless you know what it is and how to identify it. So until you are ready to write a list of what you want, then you are not ready for a new hire.
Be patient. Do not start the interview process until you feel excited again.
Every manager has had a bad hire. It feels awful and firing someone should never feel good. So give yourself time to recover and breathe. Things will look better tomorrow. And your next amazing employee is right around the corner. I promise.
Every client that I begin to work with wants a certain level of experience for the position that they want filled. They say, “Beth, they have to have 5 years experience. Not negotiable.” The problem with experience is that it is a mixed bag. According to the book Talent is Overrated, “…people with lots of experience were no better at their jobs than those with very little experience.” Are you shocked? The book goes on to say, “Researchers from the INSEAD business school in France and the US Naval Postgraduate School call the phenomenon ‘the experience trap’”. Their key finding is that while companies typically value experienced managers, rigorous study shows that, on average, ‘managers with experience did not produce high caliber results’”.
So, if experience does not make for a good hire, what does? Basically, you are looking for 3 traits in good people:
Can they handle conflict resolution? Whether there is conflict with the boss or conflict with a team member, how does this person resolve it? Basically, if your employee needs to you to solve their problems for them, then that is what you will spend your time doing. It is called management.
Can they do the job? This sounds like experience, right? It is not. It is more about basic communication and team work. Do they want to help the customer? Do they take ownership of their work? Do they ask for help when they need it? These are the qualities of the employee who is self sufficient and motivated to get the job done.
Do they want the job? Are they passionate about the work they do? If so, then they do not mind the occasional drudgery of the job. They love to solve the problems of the position and motivates them to innovate.
If you want to hire good people, do not get caught in the experience trap. Find the person who can solve conflict, has basic customer service skills and the passion for the job, then train, train, train. In the end you will then have to manage less. You will be so glad that you did!
I have written several blogs about Harley, the goldfish that my daughter saved from the wretched science experiment; recently, I have introduced Coby, our new beloved blue betta.
