I was recently talking to a friend who owns a small real estate company. Last fall, he expanded his business into a new city and was ecstatic to hire a well-known and well-respected person to run the day-to-day operations. Early on, this person not only proved that she was well connected in the market, but her performance was excellent. She went above and beyond, and was reliable and dependable.
As time passed, things began to change. She became unreachable by my friend and his clients. Her social media posts became unprofessional and did not represent the business. She began avoiding her duties and was dishonest with him about what was getting done. When she failed a required licensing exam due to lack of preparation, my friend began to question his decision to hire her in the first place.
His first inclination was to be angry and terminate her employment – not only was she lying to him, she was potentially damaging his business reputation and causing him more work and money. He was nervous however, because his business could suffer significantly if she, as a well-respected person in the industry, spoke negatively about him or the company.
What should he have done? I firmly believe that if someone is faced with a difficult situation such as this, following these steps will decrease the risk of any negative impact to their reputation and business:
Step 1: Take a deep breath. Never handle business when angry – not only does it cause you to lose your rational thought, but no one responds well to perceived attacks. Sleep on it, gather your thoughts, and identify the best way to have a clear and calm conversation. As I have mentioned in previous articles, our job as leaders is to coach, not to scold or demean.
Step 2: Think back to your childhood. What caused you to be more introspective and more likely to address an issue – when your parents yelled at you with anger, or when they somberly told you how disappointed they were? Nothing hurt me more than knowing I disappointed them, but when they were angry, I tended to get angry too. As a leader, there is no need to show power – your employee knows that you are in charge…but do you know you are in charge?
Step 3: Honesty is the ONLY policy. There cannot be any “gotchas” or secrets. As soon as you can, share what you know. For him, he knows she has been dishonest, that she did not appropriately prepare for her exam, and that she has intentionally not answered client calls. It is hard to work together on a solution if two people are not on the same page. Once you can level-set on the “what,” you can move on to the “why.”
Step 4: Seek to understand and to help. People do not typically perform poorly on purpose – there is always an underlying cause, so try to find it. After being honest with your concerns and what you know, there is only one question a leader should ask: “How can I help you?” Perhaps there are personal things happening to her; maybe this new position is just too much, too soon. It is difficult for someone to be angry or disrespectful towards you if you come from a place of caring and support.
Step 5: Weigh the risk. Is this person worth saving? If they do not consider what they are doing to be wrong, will they strive to improve or even want the help? Not every hiring decision is the right one. In some circumstances, you need to think selfishly. In my friend’s case, it was important to compare the reputational risk vs. business risk. If the company’s reputation for service is not high-quality, the business will suffer – is that a risk worth taking? If you follow the first four steps, step 5 becomes extremely clear. With leadership comes risk; how you handle it is what separates the great leader from the good.
Anthony Berticelli is VP of Operations for PSA Security Network. To request more information about PSA, visit www.securityinfowatch.com/10214742.
