A speaker on the CEO circuit proclaims, “Immediately fire any employees that shouldn’t be on the bus!” When he asked the audience how many had people they should fire, nearly 200 of the 500 person audience raised their hands. The speaker continued, “Do them a favor and fire them fast! When you keep them, you are sucking the life blood from their bodies! It is cruel. How can you stand to look at yourself in the mirror?”
Separation can be the best choice at times, but as consultants who jump in to help organizations manage breakthrough change, we must ask those leaders, “Have you made an effort to engage those employees and earn their performance?”
Have some of your employees gone dark? Entire functions? Maybe even the entire employee base? Is employee malaise the cause of your problems, or is it merely a symptom? We often find employees have gone “dark” because leaders have put them into a state of complacency and apathy because of banal, confused, phony, or missing vision. There is nothing to get excited about, and if there was, the leaders have done little to motivate and engage the troops!
If there is one truism, it is this…everyone on the planet likes to WIN! We have never met an employee that didn’t want to serve a higher purpose.
As a leader ask yourself, “Have I cultivated a workplace for my people to win?”
- Have I created a compelling vision?
- Do I know and articulate our strong social purpose?
- Have I clearly communicated the WIIFM to them?
- Have I been clear about their role to get us there?
- Do I create celebration and thank them for each milestone we reach on the way?
When leaders do what must be done — engage the team to create a vision and social purpose; collectively create a roadmap to get there; cascade ownership and accountability out into the organization, and support the progress — people light up. The B’s and C’s become A’s; the D’s and F’s become B’s. Each success stimulates pride and confidence and the organization springs to life.
Before you run for the firing gun, you must know that even A-grade people “go dark” if they lack purpose. Get rid of the bad apples…just make sure you’ve given them the nutrients they need to thrive, and the time they need to ripen. Make sure you have established “there is a bus” and “that it’s going somewhere”.