If you haven’t already read this post by Dennis Romero and his departure from Entrepreneur Magazine, you should. And you should send it to every colleague you know. And pray this never happens to you or your company.
At some point in our careers, we’ll hire a very competent employee who isn’t a good culture fit. Whether it’s the company’s fault because they didn’t see it during the interview process OR the employee’s fault because they tried too hard to fit into a culture that just wasn’t right for them is immaterial. It just happens to the best of us.
What’s important becomes how to handle the situation. I’ve seen a lot of companies get themselves into hot water because they feel compelled to ‘document’ the situation and lamely ‘performance manage’ a person out of the organization. It’s so unfair. To the employee and to the company. Nothing ticks employees off more than being told their work stinks . . . especially if it doesn’t. And, the perception to the rest of the office is the employee is being railroaded.
Companies need to get comfortable with having the “this isn’t working out” conversation. Yes, I realize these conversations aren’t quite as black/white as the “you’re not doing your job” talks.
But, confronting the issue from a more truthful place will yield a better outcome.
Ask yourself realistically, what’s the goal? It’s for the employee to leave the company and find someplace where they’ll be happy. Then you can go back to being happy – without them.
If this is an awkward conversation for you, consider soliciting the advice of your friendly local employment lawyer to help you. Remember the goal; it’s to plan a gracious exit strategy for the employee. The company wins because the employee is gone and the office saw an employee leave with dignity. The employee wins because they aren’t miserable anymore once they leave.
Being a manager sometimes means looking beyond the check boxes on forms. It means looking at real-life situations and developing sincere, realistic solutions. No one is saying it’s easy. But it does make you sleep better at night. Best of all, it makes you a better manager.
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Steve Boese says
I think you are right on the money, Sharlyn. Another situation that can occur is an organizational or strategic change in a company that fundamentally alters an employee’s role, or the conditions and culture that the employee is asked to operate under. Mergers, divestitures, even simply org chart box shuffling all can really change the dynamic and lead to a situation where the employee no longer ‘fits’. Being open and honest (both parties) has to be the goal to resolve these situations in the best possible manner.
Quashan Lockett says
You are absolutely correct Sharlyn. All too often companies shy away from having these open conversations and instead pigeon whole everything into performance reviews. This all starts with the interview process. As HR professionals, we love to ask various sorts of questions during the interview process but are they working? It may be time to do an audit on the types of questions you’re asking and what information you’re looking to receive in determining good cultural fit between the organization and the candidate.
Secondly, we have become the so called “gate keepers” of the performance review conversations, but when an employee just doesn’t seem to fit in with the values and culture of the company, are we having conversations about that as well? We should be! Remember its not just about the company but also the employee, so the quicker you are to be open and honest about the situation, the quicker you can help that employee transition to another organizations where he/she can prosper.
Twitter: @qlockett
http://www.cgthreesixty.com
Red Seven says
All good points, but I wonder if Dennis Romero’s situation is the perfect case study for a discussion about “culture fit.” This is a person who sees himself as the one of the very few competent professionals in a particular workplace – and whether he’s right or not (I have no way of knowing; his is the only perspective I’ve read), it’s more about performance issues than culture. Also, he drops a quick reference in his article to race – that he, as a person of color, noticed that there were very few non-white people who advance in this workplace. Again, whether or not active racism is responsible for this phenomenon, having the “culture fit” conversation with one of the very few people of color in an organization led overwhelmingly by white people could be a powder keg just waiting to go off.
Which is not to say that your main points – 1) managers need to be truthful, even (especially) when truthfulness requires courage, and 2) not every employee is a good fit for every organization – aren’t wise and true. I would just advise some caution before going directly to “culture fit,” even (especially) if you absolutely believe that that’s the issue at hand. Furthermore, I think an organization would do well to explicitly define both “culture” and “fit” before considering letting anyone go based on the idea that s/he doesn’t fit within the organization’s culture.
Quashan Lockett says
Not to get away from the topic at hand, but I would love to hear what others are feeling regarding the decision to so publicly flame a past employer and better yet a specific individual at that employer.
Red Seven says
I was thinking the same thing, Quashan – that (and nothing else, really) damaged his credibility somewhat and made me wonder if there was another side to this story.
Mike Kohn says
I had the same thought upon reading the article Quashan. On the one hand, it seems like he is a well-established professional (at least, that is the impression I get from his post) in the journalism industry so he knows what how powerful his words can be. He also seems to have a following, so people will take notice of what he writes and will rally in support of him.
But on the other hand, when applying for another position, regardless of the talent that he has (and his writing abilities are evident from that post alone even before taking into account his published works), what employer would not think twice before bringing him on? I know that he said that he left amicably from past publications, but even still, it’s hard to get past the notion that he completely blasted his employer and trashed the editor-in-chief in a public forum.
But back to the original point of the post, I agree with what’s already been said and what you wrote Sharlyn. It’s not about throwing accusations or placing the blame, but about acknowledging that there continues to be tension 1 month, 2 months, 3 months into someone’s employment. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that you immediately jump to the conclusion that someone should be let go because the “fit” – however you define that – isn’t quite right. It just means that managers (and HR too!) should be sitting down to talk about why things aren’t working and what can be done to remedy it, whether that means changing a team, altering job duties or agreeing that the best thing to do would be to part ways.
hr bartender says
@SteveBoese Good point. It’s possible that any kind of organizational change can create a situation where an employee is no longer a “fit” for the organization. In today’s economy, we might see more restructuring…and subsequently a little more of this occurrence.
@qlockett Thanks for chiming in. Evaluating the interview process is important. I once worked at a company that asked employees to evaluate their interview and on-boarding process about 90 days into their employment. We wanted to make sure that employees were being the resources to be successful.
@Red Seven Excellent insights about defining organizational culture. I wonder how many companies really do it (to the extent that it should be done).
@Mike Kohn Thanks for commenting. I totally agree there are other options besides parting ways. I’ve found when companies are reluctant to address the matter, as time passes, so do options.
I’m really looking forward to hearing more discussion about this one. Especially the question about the impact of flaming one’s employer on future employment…
Wally Bock says
Congratulations! This post was selected as one of the five best independent business blog posts of the week in my Three Star Leadership Midweek Review of the Business Blogs.
http://blog.threestarleadership.com/2009/08/05/8509-midweek-look-at-the-independent-business-blogs.aspx
Wally Bock
Fred says
It sounds like “culture fit” is the new “motivation” (or “conflict”): it’s the word you say when you don’t understand what’s going on. Stick a generic label on the situation, apply a generic solution, then when it doesn’t work, blame and de-hire the employee.