Guy Kawasaki has a great post on how to fire someone. I was conflicted by one point that he makes: his dismissal of the idea that you should fire someone quickly. He says you should give them a second chance. Reading it, I realized I think both things are true. How can that be?

This got me thinking about what an employee needs to succeed. I came up with 3 things. Thing Number One is entirely out of your control (and not completely, but generally not under the control of the employee either). Thing Number Two is entirely under your control not that of the employee. Thing Number Three is under both your controls. Details in a minute.

But here’s my take on second chances. When you give a second chance, you must explain the problem and then change something and expect an improvement. At the minimum, you change to increased monitoring, but the things you must change are aspects of Thing Two and Thing Three that are under your control. If you see improvement give another second chance and another and another.

However, as soon as you realize the employees failure is due entirely to Thing Number One – get rid of him or her immediately. It won’t get any better, and you’ll just prolong the agony.

An employee needs three things to succeed

1. The right personality traits. This includes what is commonly called “motivation” and “attitude” but it’s more specific (and less judgmental) than that. Some people are good at multi-tasking, others plow through one thing at a time till it’s done. Some people see the big picture and can’t be bothered with details – others can’t see the forest for the trees. Some people are naturally curious, some are not. Some are fast learners, some are not. By “right personality traits” I mean the right ones for the job. Most people’s traits are right for something – but no one’s are right for everything.

Personality traits are hard enough to discover about yourself, let alone another person in a job interview. But the best way I’ve heard of is to work with a team to come up with a list of traits for each position (this goes beyond the job description). Then in the interview, when you ask questions like “Tell me about your first job?” or “What was your favorite vacation?” you can look for those traits. It’s your job as the boss to determine the kinds of traits needed for each position and do your best to match the person’s traits to the job.

In this article Inc Magazine calls this Behavioral Interviews and gives some tips on how to do it.

And personality traits are almost impossible to change. If someone isn’t a good fit in this area a large company may have other areas to move them to where they fit better. If you don’t, you’d best let them go as quickly as you figure it out. This is the basis for the fire rapidly rule that Guy Kawasaki puts down.

2. Skills & Experience. This stuff is mostly trainable – though no amount of training will make someone a super star. And wisdom can not be had without experience, which takes time. This is the area you give the most second chances in. (Is most second chances an oxymoron?) If you don’t see any improvement, then the cause is likely #1 or #3.

3. The right environment. This is the job of management. The ideal “environment” is one where people have the support and systems they need to be successful. By that I mean, if you hire me to paint a wall, it’s your job to give me the equipment and the paint – or the authority to buy them. If I have to buy them, then you need to allow time for that, and if you tell me to pick the color, you better accept my choice. This is the area that is the biggest problem for small companies. Partly because each manager is wearing so many hats and partly because its a skill they don’t get much training in.

So the first thing I do when an employee isn’t working out, is use that as a mirror to see if I’ve been delinquent in setting up the right environment. Obviously you can’t revamp your whole production line for each new hire. But the more effort you put into designing the right environment, the easier it is to find a good employee to work there. Consider McDonalds. Behind the line, they’ve designed equipment and processes specifically for their menu. As a result, they hire teen agers, retirees, people who can’t speak English, lots of part timers and yet every McDonalds on the planet tastes the same. Can you do that in your facility?

Takeaways:

• Make sure you’re providing the right environment for people to succeed
• Make sure you know the job well enough to determine the personality traits needed
• Get good at Behavioral Interviewing
• Give second chances as long as the traits fit the job and you see improvement
• Fire quickly once you’ve determined neither is true