Back in 2010 I was running a properly fractious global programme.
And one perm hire I'd taken on just wasn't working out. His probation deadline was days away.
Nearly everyone I'd hired for that programme turned out brilliant. Him, not so much. Cocky without the willingness to learn and not a ton to back up that attitude. Acted like turning up and doing the work was beneath him.
I had the exit paperwork done. And the meeting with him would have been the easiest (and shamefully, the most satisfying) of the week.
What it cost me, once he opened his mouth, was a lot more than twenty minutes.
Every bit of feedback on him was true. I felt I could have let him go with a clear conscience and moved on with my day.
So I sat him down to do exactly that.
He was furious. Bolshy. Rude. Borderline aggressive in tone. All things I knew.
And in amongst the anger he said something that punched me right in the face: I hadn't given him a fair shot.
He'd been dropped underneath a bunch of high performing contract leads because that's how the programme was structured, and I'd been so busy running the whole deal that I hadn't put any real time into him at all.
He was absolutely spot on.
I didn't want him to be right. He was aggressive about it, borderline unpleasant, exactly the kind of delivery that makes you want to dismiss everything someone's just said. Easier to write him off as a bad attitude problem and stick with the plan.
But underneath the shite delivery, every word of what he said was fair. And I couldn't clap my hands over my ears just because I didn't like how he'd said it! Well, I could. But I couldn't... you know what I mean?
So I kept him on. Knowing it would be harder, not easier, and that I'd now have to do the work of managing him out properly if it came to that, instead of giving myself the safe answer sitting right in front of me.
That non-goodbye chat still surfaces for me every now and then. Quite often, it can be in a session, watching someone staying all 'safe' instead of getting into that manky, uncomfy honesty.
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In my emails, I talk about how to recognise and work to change the safe answers you give when people ask you what you really want. The link is here: https://katedoddcoaching.kit.com/emails
Pic: Some 'arty' sardine tins. I couldn't take my eyes off these!
