Ask Marcia Leadership Q and As: Handling Underperformers
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Q. One of my vendors had a new hire who could not deliver the results we needed though we were patient for weeks. My team was getting stressed with her lack of timely communication and knowledge! She was: busy and utterly disorganized (busyness is not productive); overwhelmed and refused to ask her managers for help (driven by her own commission); not willing to collaborate or partner with her colleagues in other offices though we asked her to (she didn’t have the knowledge—she’s still in training, but thinks she knows more than she does!) After many attempts to communicate our needs with her, we fired her. Were there other options?
A. Firing this vendor-in-training sounds like the appropriate option. It is not your job to train another company’s employee, especially if you don’t have the knowledge. Second, her lack of customer focus put your team under stress and that’s inappropriate. With her arrogant attitude about knowing more than she did but refusing to use her own team to partner with for timely or relevant information, tells me she has a variety of fears, is greedy, or more concerned about herself than your needs. It could be a myriad of those traits. After you fired her, someone who cared about her customer would work to understand what she needed to improve. But if she’s arrogant or greedy, she’ll justify her poor customer service and make excuses, act self-righteous, and learn nothing in the process.
One option might have been to reach out to her manager and communicate what you needed and that you need better service. However sometimes that puts the employee in a precarious situation, or it’s difficult to even know who their manager is to share any feedback with. It sounds like you made the right decision for your team and company. When she was incapable or too immature to communicate with her team and yours and deliver, you made the wise decision to terminate the dysfunctional relationship. Some people learn; some will carry their immaturity forward. But making a wise decision ensures you have healthy boundaries. You’ll move forward.
