Today more than ever, organizations need to adjust their mindset when it comes to hiring, developing, and firing employees. So many organizations fixate on short-term performance, “the numbers” and quarterly targets. Rethink who you consider as your most talented employee. However, building long-term success takes much higher-level thinking and a focus on high-performance traits in each role.
“It doesn’t matter how ‘great’ an employee’s numbers are if he or she makes all the other employees miserable.” — Gary Vaynerchuk
Successful organizations have no room for brilliant jerks. Working with toxic employees means team members will be spending time on politics. Rather than on execution. It is about focusing on overall culture and continuity over short-term financial performance.
Why Excellent Performance Does Not Make Up For Bad Behaviour
What many people do not understand is, speed in business comes from outstanding internal culture. The most significant things that will make your organization hum are
- continuity
- lack of politics
In the final analysis, it does not matter how “great” an employee’s numbers are if they make all the other employees miserable. If they always spread negativity or drag other employees down, it is a significant problem.
If you are the CEO of an organization, you will need to figure out which ones make the other employees miserable. So, conducting an audit of every single employee in your organization is imperative.
It does not matter if it is your number one salesperson, your best developer, your co-founder or even yourself. Find the folks who are making others miserable. Furthermore, these people cause a toxic environment to spread.
So, if you have people in your organization that are toxic, you must move them out no matter how much they bring in terms of revenue or customers.
It often comes down to a few reasons:
Toxic employees will slow your organization down
In today’s world where competitors are so quick to copy product features, the speed of product to market matters over everything else. Also, if you have toxic employees within your organization, you will have other employees who are scared to have meetings with them. Rather than executing, you will have people who are spending time navigating discussions with those employees.
“The more time team members spend on politics — the less time they spend on execution.”
However, when people feel safe and excited to come to work, they do not worry about dealing with other employees as much.
On the other hand, if an employee is not spending any time worrying, he or she can spend more time executing. Imagine a future where each team member is free to produce innovative ideas and do the job they were hired to do, without spending 15 to 30 minutes each day bickering or figuring out who is trying to “ruin” them.
High-Performance Traits are More Important Than Technical Skills
Each role has about 20 high-performance characteristics. We increasingly see emotional intelligence as being one of the five or six discriminating traits for a position.
Technical skills and knowledge are being commoditized increasingly every day. To me, you need to consider the full talent stack — skills, knowledge, wisdom, high-performance traits, and accomplishments. The differentiator between today’s workers and employees in the future will be how well a person's talent stack fits with their role and if the person finds the work to be fulfilling. People need to work with technology and other people. These demands will draw on their complete talent stack.
EQ and other performance traits require behavioural analytics to measure and quantify. However, having these insights creates a disproportionate competitive advantage. These insights have helped me build and positive relationships with key stakeholders and customers.
Value of Emotional Support
EQ is a differentiator that leads to permanency within an organization. For example, if someone’s performance is continuously weak and they have a high salary, most leaders consider letting them go.
However, what if the individual is the emotional support for three other people in the organization who are driving most of the sales? What if this person is someone whom other employees come to when they have problems or personal issues?
These are the types of employees that make the entire engine run. However, most organizations do not recognize this valuable contribution.
“But shouldn’t bosses think about why toxic employees behave the way they do? What if their personality is just a reaction to the overall business culture, which is also toxic?” — Gary Vaynerchuk
If you are an employee in an organization where the global culture is toxic, then the best choice is to leave. Sadly, as an employee, you can not change the culture of an organization. Culture evolves from the top down.
If the CEO and upper management are not building the right culture, there’s unfortunately not much you can change.
“What if the CEO is the problem?”
Again, if you are an employee in an organization where the CEO is not building the correct culture from the top down, and you are struggling to survive in it, your best move is to leave. While you can contribute to a toxic culture, you can do little to change the culture from your position.
“If an employee is toxic, shouldn’t you spend time trying to correct that behaviour first? Why would you fire them outright?” — Gary Vaynerchuk
As a baseball fan, I like to give people more than one chance — they may get up to three strikes. I encourage our leaders to have weekly check-ins with every member of their team. It is an opportunity to talk about projects, provide support, supply learning feedback, and shape culture. The purpose is to get each employee to a place where they can perform well get along with colleagues and fellow employees and find fulfilment.
Concluding Thoughts
A big concern is, what happens if the employee fails again? What if they fail a second, third, or fourth time? What if they continue to make the other employees they work with miserable?
Do you “look the other way” because they are bringing in revenue or because they are a crucial part of your organization? You are showing the rest of the team that you consider the individual with toxic behaviour as your most talented employee.
If you are a CEO who looks the other way, then you do not value good culture.
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