June 1; Each Employee Is Like Water: He Seeks His Own Level MANAGEMENT BY THE BOOK: 365 Daily Bible Verse & One-Minute Management Lessons For The Busy Faithful
Chapter Six: Correction; 1 June
Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you…
Proverbs 9:8a
| Each Employee Is Like Water: He Seeks His Own Level |
Train-Fit-Fire
He had a Ph.D. and could tell you the history of every product coming out of his shop.
Even if you didn’t want to know it…
He was an expert in content but didn’t quite deliver—never got things done. I was impatient and exhausted. I wanted to fire him immediately and save us all some time. But smarter superiors and cooler heads prevailed over Your Business Professor, which was not surprising.
My recommendation to terminate was eventually enacted, later, much later, but still a surprise.
The non-performing human resource asset was counseled (but how do you instruct a guy who’s that smart?).
His body language was a challenge during the corrective counseling review sessions. Not much training gets done when the student has a terminal degree and gives blank looks.
It was amazing. His was a master of controlled arrogance who could give an eye-roll without moving a muscle.
That re-education camp didn’t work so he was moved to a smaller unit (where he could do less damage). He hated that job and didn’t care for his new boss, who didn’t care much for him either.
Another move; this one a lateral. Sadly, it was a death spiral down where even a Ph.D. could see what was happening. We were all genuinely attempting to find a fit for him.
As the Alert Reader could guess the troubled employee was, shall we say, less and less thankful. He sneered at every suggestion (re: warning) and every counseling session (re: you are going to get fired) and every internal move (re: start looking for another job).
Our brilliant employee was finally situated in another company division across town where he could get a fresh start albeit with reduced responsibilities.
His reputation was soon uncovered by his new peers, which surprised me: Why is it that only gossip seems to permeate across business silos?
Anyway, this is where his story ended. He did not perform in his new surrounds. The terminal degree-guy was finally terminated. A well-documented paper trail of employee counseling discouraged a wrongful discharge lawsuit.
And no, I was not happy about being right.
Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you… Proverbs 9:8a
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