Dear Dave,

I operate a window business in a small town. I have an employee that I’ve trained for a year, but we don’t seem to share the same vision and morals. We have nothing in common and we hardly ever talk. He usually does his job pretty well, but it’s an uncomfortable situation and I don’t want to have trained my competition. How should I handle this?

Bill

Dear Bill,

I ran into the same kind of situation early on when I opened my business. It taught me really fast that you have to be super-vigilant in the hiring process.

I now only bring people onto my team that I’d like to have over for dinner or spend time with my kids. If they can’t pass this test, then they definitely don’t have the character that I want representing my name.

There’s a fabulous business book by Jim Collins called “Good to Great.” In it, he talks about the importance of getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and getting the right people into the right seats on the bus. In other words, having the right team members in the right positions is vital to the success of any business.

Along these lines, you need to ask yourself if you’d hire the person in question today if he or she didn’t already work with you. If the answer is no, then you need to start planning for how you’re going to move them out and replace them.

It’s an uncomfortable process, but why would you keep someone that you wouldn’t hire again? Once this happens, the person needs to either leave your team or make a change in their behavior and character so that they will be someone you want to grow your organization with.

Now, it’s always possible that you could mentor this person and train them to be the kind of person you want to have around. But if you can’t transform them – or if it’s a case where he or she isn’t willing to be transformed – then be very generous with a severance deal, move them out and bring in the new person!

-         Dave      

Dear Dave, Continued...