“Two months ago I had a superior performance review. Today I don’t have a job. If you asked me what happened between then and now, I’d have to tell you I don’t have a clue. All I know is that last Friday I received a voice mail telling me to meet my boss at 5 pm. I may not know much, but I do know it’s never good to have a meeting with your boss late on a Friday afternoon. By 5:10 pm I was escorted to my desk by a security guard and a box. The box was there for my personal stuff. The security guard was there to make sure I didn’t break anything on the way out. It wasn’t how I planned to start the weekend.”
It’s a story we hear far too often. The written performance review says “great job”; the one- way escort to the parking lot suggests something different. What’s going on?
“Here’s what’s going on”, says the boss. “This person is brilliant. The problem isn’t his ability. The problem is his personality. People don’t want to work with him. They don’t like him. I don’t know how to tell him that his personality gets in the way of other people’s performance, that he creates unnecessary tension, chaos, and discord. I tried, once. I told him what his colleagues said about him and this was his reaction. He said he wanted names. He said if I couldn’t tell him who was saying those things, and if no one was willing to say it to his face, my charges were bogus. So, I dropped it.”
“You dropped it, and then you fired him. What reason did you give when you let him go?” I asked.
“I waited a while before I fired him. I knew if I did it right away I’d have a fight on my hands. And the reason I gave him? Well, it wasn’t a great one. We live in a right to work state, so I didn’t really have to give him any reason. What I did say was that our profits were flat, I had to cut costs and his job was being eliminated.”
“What’d he say?”
“That was the surprise. I thought he’d go ballistic. Instead, he didn’t say anything. I told him the security guard would help him pack his things and walk him out to the parking lot. He said it wasn’t necessary. In fact, that was the only thing he said. He wasn’t rude. He didn’t yell. For a minute I wondered why I never told him the truth about his behavior. Maybe together we could have fixed it, maybe not. But we could have tried.”
“If you’d like to do this differently in the future, you’ll need to figure out how to do it in the present. So, for practice sake, tell me: What bothers you most about this employee’s personality?”
“He’s arrogant, opinionated, and egotistical. He asks and answers his own questions. When his peers disagree with his positions, he waves them off, as though their comments aren’t worth his time. He doesn’t collaborate and never tells any of us what he’s doing. He overextends himself, misses deadlines, blames others for his mistakes and bullies into submission anyone who disagrees with him.”
“What does he do well?”
“He’s an expert in his field and one of the most intelligent people I know. He has a strong work ethic and delivers a quality product. He takes on projects that others can’t or won’t, and works 24/7 to get them done. And socially, away from work, he’s a nice guy. It’s regrettable that his negatives so outweigh his positives.
How did his behaviors derail his career?
“Because he didn’t communicate with us or his customers, we were blindsided. As a result, we lost important clients, we looked incompetent, our department was beaten up by the leadership team. As the department manager I had to take the heat for mistakes he refused to admit making.”
“That’s the information I needed. If you’re interested, come back next week, and I’ll provide you suggestions for giving tough, timely feedback that works for everyone concerned.”
