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As a leader, it's not unusual to inherit less-than-stellar performers when you take on a new organization. And if on top of the poor results, that individual is also going through personal difficulties, well, what then?
It's natural to want to help someone going through a tough time and, as a new CEO, there could be some strategic merit in being seen as supportive of a long-term employee who has hit a bad patch.
But as the leader of the organization, you are responsible for the well-being of all the organization's stakeholders. Permitting below-par performance is bound to hurt morale, never mind the bottom line. And if you spend too much time rescuing instead of developing A-players, you're missing a major opportunity to accelerate results.
It takes about 90 days to determine if someone is fit for his or her role. By developing desired outcomes for the end of a 90-day period and helping the individual form a plan to achieve those objectives, a leader will be able to identify those who have the right combination of competence and enthusiasm.
During the 90 days, meet with the person for 30 minutes a week, either by phone or in person. During the meeting, provide feedback, coaching, mentoring and guidance, while also assessing the person's ability to execute against his or her plan.
At the same time, identify individual strengths and weaknesses in the executive team. Poor performance in one role doesn't necessarily imply the executive won't do well elsewhere in the organization.
At the end of three months, you will be in a position to do one of three things: continue to support and develop a top performer, find another role for a potentially great employee or help the individual exit the company.
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Additional Reading:Winning by Jack Welch. Written with Welch's wife, a onetime editor of the Harvard Business Review, the book delivers a brilliant career's worth of consistently astute (and often iconoclastic) business wisdom and knowledge from the man Fortune magazine called "the manager of the century." Welch knows what he's talking about, and here offers an admirably concise primer on how to do business that's a paragon of tough common sense. | 
Mackay&Associates
