When to Let Go of Underachieving Executives

For startup CEOs, one of the biggest tasks as the business starts to grow is hiring new people. The right executives can keep building momentum and get a startup to where it wants to go. However, no CEO is perfect, which means not every hiring decision is going to be perfect. Knowing how to handle a bad hiring decision creates another challenge for founders and CEOs.

Oftentimes, CEOs wait far too long to let go of an employee they know isn’t working out. Sometimes they wait more than a year or two. Needless to say, this isn’t a good business strategy, nor is it good for the underachieving employee.

The common excuse is that it’s hard for CEOs to admit that they made a mistake by hiring this person in the first place. Nobody likes to admit that they got something wrong. Plus, after all of the time and effort it takes to recruit employees to startups, it seems wasteful to let someone go within a year or two.

However, if you keep putting it off, it’s just going to make the situation worse. In addition to having an underachieving employee who isn’t getting the job done and meeting expectations, startup leaders will get tired of dealing with that employee. The CEO’s attitude toward that person can turn bitter and resentful, which won’t help business either.

Rather than allow this to happen, CEOs need to recognize when someone isn’t working out and have that hard conversation sooner rather than later. In this situation, it doesn’t help to take a wait-and-see approach. If you trust your gut that this person isn’t working, this will just delay the inevitable.

The key is making sure this conversation isn’t about simply firing the employee or criticizing their performance. This should be a conversation about helping that person find a job that is a better fit. Of course, it’s also important to make it clear that their new job will not be with this company because it’s clearly not a good fit.

There is no reason to play the blame game in these situations. The most important thing is simply recognizing the reality of the situation, which is that the status quo isn’t ideal for either party. From there, both sides can work together to find a solution that will be best for the company and the employee.

Nobody is saying that this will be an easy conversation. But if it’s clear that someone isn’t a good fit, it’s a conversation that must happen. The sooner the conversation happens, the better. Ultimately, having the conversation as soon as possible will save both parties a lot of stress and suffering.