Helping Your Wrong People Out

In our first session working with a new organization, we explain that being a great Leadership Team is a lot like being great parents (acknowledgement here to Dr. Thomas Gordon and his book Parent Effectiveness Training). We teach that great Leadership Teams – like great parents – have just a handful of rules.

Later in the EOS process, I facilitate Leadership Teams to discover their Core Values. Core Value in EOS are all about culture – a bulletized list of what is most special about the culture of an organization. Core Values are that handful of rules – the ones everyone in the organization must follow. The Right People for any organization are the ones that live up to the organization’s Core Values.

But what about those who don’t?

When you tell your organization your Core Values are the rules everyone must follow, 100% of the people in the organization will try. Those who can make the trip will. Those who can’t make the trip will let you know, by backsliding to behaviors that run contrary to the Core Values.

Building culture takes careful and consistent support from the Leadership Team. Leaders need to clearly explain what each Core Value means, and do so frequently. They need to call out role model behavior when someone in the organization exemplifies a Core Value, and also call out (privately, of course) when an individual’s behavior falls short.

I often say “once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.” When someone’s behavior consistently fails to live up to your Core Values, they are telling you they just don’t fit your culture. That individual is the Wrong Person for your organization.

When people don’t fit, you MUST act.  The people around those Wrong People see the bad behavior and know they don’t belong there. So if you keep Wrong People around, you are undercutting your own credibility. You must “walk the talk”.

But also think about what it is like for that Wrong Person. As you continue building your culture, those Wrong People feel left out, as they are increasingly surrounded by people who DO fit your culture. It feels bad to know you are somewhere you just don’t belong. Thankfully, Wrong People often leave on their own accord. But when they don’t, good leaders take the steps necessary to help their Wrong People see they don’t fit and ultimately help them – voluntarily or not – out of the organization.

That process is never easy for any leader. However, it is the right thing for the organization and, ultimately, for that employee as well. You are giving them the opportunity to find someplace where they fit better. Someplace where they will be happier.

So helping them out of the organization really is helping THEM out in the long run.