Winning - Jack Welch [45]
The next day at work is when you must start to act against your instincts. Yes, the employee has done a poor job, and yes, he has taken up a disproportionate amount of your time and energy already. But until he departs, your job is to make sure he doesn’t feel as if he is in a leper colony.
Build up his self-confidence. Coach him. Let him know there is a good job for him out there, where his skills are a better match. You may even help him find that job. Your goal for the fired employee is a soft landing wherever he goes.
A firing may take an hour, but someone’s departure can take six months. You’ll save a lot of pain—and preserve a lot of pride—if you don’t rush it.
The unfortunate reality is, firings are a part of business. But that doesn’t mean they have to end up as the bitter messes they often do. If you handle them right, they’ll never be enjoyable, but they can be tolerable for all involved.
The legacy of a firing lasts a long time—for you, your company, and, most of all, the person who has been fired.
Obviously, if your company is collapsing, you can’t handle layoffs with kid gloves. And if someone has an integrity violation, you need to kick that person out the door, and fast.
But for everyone else, leaving for reasons more in the gray area, remember that every time there is a parting of ways, you own the process.
When it’s time to let someone go, do it right. No surprises. No humiliation.
9
Change
* * *
MOUNTAINS DO MOVE
I’M SURE YOU’VE NOTICED the hand-wringing and hyperventilating about change out there. For more than a decade, there has been a whole industry devoted to the topic, all of it selling pretty much the same line: change or die.
Well…it’s true.
Change is an absolutely critical part of business. You do need to change, preferably before you have to.
What you’ve heard about resistance to change is also true. People hate it when their bosses announce a “transformation initiative.” They run back to their cubicles and frantically start e-mailing one another with reasons it’s going to ruin everything.
Frankly, most people hate it when they find out their favorite coffee shop is closing. The Times of London changed to a tabloid format, and the editor told me he received a letter asking him how it felt to be the person responsible for ending Western civilization.
People love familiarity and patterns. They cling to them. The phenomenon is so entrenched it can only be chalked up to human nature.
But attributing a behavior to human nature doesn’t mean you have to be controlled by it. Yes, managing change can sometimes feel like moving a mountain. But managing change can also be incredibly exciting and rewarding, particularly when you start seeing results.
During my years at GE, we were in a pretty constant state of change. Most companies today are. You have to be if you want to stay in the game, let alone win.
That said, I realize that change is not a layup. Over the past couple of years, I have been struck by the number of people at Q & A sessions who have asked me, “My organization needs to change. How can I get them to do it when everyone wants things to stay the same?” The question is usually delivered with a level of despair.
My first answer always is a question back. “Are you really the only person who sees a need for change?” I ask. “If you are, and you don’t have some authority, make your case, and if you don’t get anywhere, learn to live with the situation or get out.”
But if the situation is not that extreme—that is, you have the power to get things done and a few supporters as well—then you can make something happen.
It comes down to embracing four practices:
1. Attach every change initiative to a clear purpose or goal. Change for change’s sake is stupid and enervating.
2. Hire and promote only true believers and get-on-with-it types.
3. Ferret out and get rid of resisters, even if their performance is satisfactory.