Shawnee Love   •  
April 28, 2011

You might have heard this saying “Hire Slow, Fire Fast” before, but have you taken the time to consider what it means? My interpretation involves three parts:

1. You take your time during the hiring process to first be clear that you truly need to add another person and second to ensure a good fit between the candidate and the role, company and team. Yes, that means lots of meetings and conversations and people involved and very thorough background  checks, but in the long run it can mean the difference between high productivity/performance and dysfunction.

2. If you take lots of time hiring, it should lead to a great relationship and easy management. In fact, hiring slow should eliminate the need to ever fire.

3. If you do have to let someone go for one reason or another, don’t let the person linger. (I am not a fan of working notice!) Instead, much like a band-aid, once you make the decision to fire an employee (hopefully after careful thought, due process, and consideration of all other alternatives) then fire fast. Get that person out of the workplace and clear the road for your remaining employees to work without the obstacle of a poor employee.

Unfortunately, far too often I see situations where managers complain about an employee and decide to fire fast without really finding out why the employee is a problem. Employee retention 101 says you have to ensure your employee:

• Knows what she is supposed to do
• Understands why she does it, and
• Has the abilities and tools to do it.

If you know these 3 criteria are met yet someone is struggling, my recommendation is to ask why. The answer will help you decide whether you need to help the employee move on or not.

You’ll also notice I didn’t say fire fast for a mistake. Mistakes happen. People learn from them. Don’t fire for honest mistakes or you will root out creativity,  innovation, courage, and/or honesty in your organization. Mistakes are not a good reason for firing fast. If someone truly isn’t working out and is bringing the team down instead of up, then firing may be a good solution.  Then again, there may be less costly alternatives so it is worth exploring the situation and options.

What do you think?