I’ll be honest, I don’t hate firing people. I don’t love it, but I rarely avoid it. I am a firm believer in the saying, “Hire slow and fire fast.” Rarely have I thought that I needed to fire someone, only to have them come around over time. 9 times out of 10, my (and your) gut is right and it would be best to just rip the bandaid. I have only ever regretted firing one person in my whole career, it is almost always an immediate win for the team and the mission.
But, for the 1 situation out of 10, for the employee’s good and for the protection of your organization, you need to have a good process to give your team member a chance to turn it around.
Two weeks ago we started a short blog series on how to fire an underperforming staff member. Such a fun topic! We started by outlining the basics of an employee management system. There is a lot more to be said about how to build and maintain such a system, and I’d actually love to write more about that at some point, but last week got us started. Here’s a quick recap.
1. Build accurate and thorough job descriptions that lay out expectations in ways that are as measurable as possible.
2. Schedule a rhythm of check-ins (I recommend quarterly) to assess the employees, give them feedback, and troubleshoot any issues they are facing.
3. Give clear and direct feedback if the employee is falling behind expectations. Write down your feedback and have them sign a document that outlines your concerns. This may seem extreme or overly corporate but it will protect you down the road from a “he never told me!” Situation.
Then last week we walked through six key questions to ask yourself before moving on from an employee. These are meant to clarify that the employee is the problem and not something else in the organization.
Today we are going to outline the basics of a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). These are written documents that you can give to an employee who is falling significantly behind and is on track to being let go. A good PIP lays out expectations and consequences with specificity and clarity so that everyone knows what is at stake. Here are three things every good PIP has.
1. A PIP should outline very clearly where the employee is failing to meet expectations. It should reference the specific area of responsibility in the employee’s job description. It should describe what the problems are, how they are manifesting and the specific evidence that makes this clear. If you follow step 1 of this process, every employee will have objective, measurable goals that you can hold them to and reference in cases like this, when an employee isn’t meeting expectations.
2. A PIP should have clear expectations for how things are going to change. Again, this should be as objective and measurable as possible. It should contain timelines for improvement check-ins and shorter-term goals. For instance, if the employee is in Small Groups and hasn’t been able to recruit new leaders, a PIP should say that the employee needs to add three new qualified leaders in the next 3 months. That’s clear, measurable, and objective.
3. A PIP should contain consequences if performance doesn’t improve. It may be a demotion or termination, but the employee needs to understand the stakes. Too often I have warned employees that their performance was not meeting expectations, only for them to be/act surprised when they were terminated. If you write it down and have them sign it, they cannot claim to be surprised by your action.
Once you have written a PIP for an employee, you should sit down with them, and another staff member, to review it and have them sign it so everyone is on the same page. Let me be clear, a PIP almost never improves employee performance, but it does give them a path for them to walk. More importantly, it gives you a paper trail and a process you can point to if someone complains that their favorite staff member was let go.
Staff management is almost always hard but it’s an important part of our jobs and a part that can have massive consequences if it goes wrong. Take these steps to protect yourself and your church.
Next week, we’ll talk about how to have “The Meeting” where you let someone go. Good times!