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What does Level 5 leadership have to do with Replacing a Team Member?
  November 9, 2010  
 

I am most often asked the above question about a member of an executive team, but this issue really applies to anyone in your organization. Most leaders care deeply about their people and try to coach non- or under-performers to success. But whereas there is a healthy return on time invested helping our B- players become B+ or A players, unfortunately there is almost no return on time spent trying to fix or save "C" players.

You remember what Level 5 is about, right? Jim Collins discovered this attribute in all the leaders of the eleven great companies he wrote about in Good to Great. It is the combination of personal humility in a leader, i.e. it isn't about him/her or his function or his department; it is all about getting the right decisions for the organization. Combine this humility with the professional will to always make the right decision, even when it is really tough to do so.

I do think there are a couple of relatively simple guidelines for these tough decisions. First, I don't mean it should be easy to remove anyone, and in fact, the day it is easy we should quit our jobs as leaders. It should be tough to significantly impact a person's life. But from a business standpoint, no one person's welfare should be more important than the welfare of the company as a whole, and leaders understand it is irresponsible to set these priorities incorrectly.

The first question a leader should ask is, "Knowing what I know today, would I hire every one of my direct reports for their current job tomorrow?" If you have to pause and think about the answer, i.e. it isn't crystal clear, you have a clue - and it is just that, a clue. I am not going to walk down the hall and fire the individual, nor will I put the company at risk, but if I cannot immediately answer, "yes," I had better have a plan for what I am going to do about it. What would a Level 5 leader do?

The second decision point I use is that when the pain of making all the excuses for an individual and doing things myself that I know I shouldn't have to do exceeds the pain of hiring a replacement, I will hire that replacement. Accountability is not mean or nasty; it is how we run a business. Making all those excuses and allowing ourselves to be derailed from the areas we must focus on that contribute the most to our companies is irresponsible at best. People get a paycheck for coming to work and doing the things they are assigned to do correctly, for which they will be held accountable. It goes hand-in-hand with that awful (and false) statement that, "a warm body is better than nobody." Not true! And think of the message it sends to everyone else in your organization. I have learned the hard way that keeping warm bodies around with the erroneous thought that it will be too hard and/or costly to find a replacement is one of the worst forms of procrastination for leaders, and even an abdication of our responsibility to every other employee. What would a Level 5 leader do?

That paradoxical blend of professional will plus personal humility is one of the most profound messages from Jim Collins' book Good to Great. I encourage every leader to remind themselves regularly what Level 5 leadership is - what it isn't - and to sign on for the journey. It directly impacts our decision-making with regard to team members who must be replaced.

Check out Jim Collins' video at Level 5 Leadership . We should all make a commitment to the Level 5 journey a New Years' resolution.

Happy holidays,


Jim Alampi
Alampi & Associates LLC

phone: 248.349.6045
 
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