Boy, I hear this all the time, especially these days when it is so, so hard to find people.
But, if you step back and think about it, does one have anything to do with the other? Meaning, If you have a "bad apple" would you keep it because the store is out of "fresh apples"? No, you'd never do that. But yet it happens all the time inside of companies.
Now listen, it's not as easy as finding more apples at the store, I get it. But what I want you to remember, is that rot spreads!
Staying on the bad fruit discussion, what happens when fruit is starting to rot? You start getting fruit flies, and bacteria and fungus forms...we won't get into a whole science lesson. But, the saying is true "One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel." And it's true for company culture as well.
So what do you do when you cannot afford to lose anyone? Well, I'm going to tell you that you cannot afford to keep everyone in this scenario. So what can you do to offset the missing person that you need to fire?
I'd tell you that you need to start preparing now, and get ready to fire them soon:
If you've followed the bullet points above, you have: adequately documented the occurrences leading to the termination and you've "thinned" your schedule of the non-efficient, non-profitable clients. Now it's time to "throw out the rotten fruit". You'll find once you do you'll eventually rid yourself of those pesky fruit flies and stop the rotting of the other fruit in the bowl.
In all seriousness, this analogy, as silly as it sounds, closely mimics having a toxic employee in your company.
If you haven't experienced this already, when you do finally rid yourself of that person, you will find that there's a breath of fresh air in your company. You will be so surprised at how much stress and anxiety is lifted when that person is gone. When you feel that relief, you know you've done the right thing. And your staff will feel the relief as well.
Hear me out: There is never a good reason to keep rotten fruit in your fruit bowl and spread the "rot" to the other fruit. You might end up with an empty fruit bowl and consumers who leave you because you serve them rotten fruit.
Oh boy, don't kill me over using the rotten apple analogy. I just need you to take the emotion out of the equation!!! Do what needs to be done. It will feel so much better.
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I'm so glad you have made the first step towards turning around your culture. I'd love for you to opt-in my mailing list to receive information about future courses and offerings.