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People and leadership · peer advisory council

Difficult personnel decisions

“He’s been with me 12 years. He’s also the reason two good people quit.”

What it often sounds like at the table

People decisions are some of the hardest an owner makes, because they involve more than numbers. There’s loyalty, history, performance and the effect on everyone else who is watching. You can’t talk them through with your team, and you shouldn’t have to carry them home. The council gives you a confidential place to separate the emotion from the business issue.

You might recognize this if…

  • You’ve been putting off a conversation for months.
  • Your team is quietly waiting for you to act.
  • You feel loyal and frustrated at the same time.
  • The issue is affecting people who aren’t directly involved.

Questions the room might ask you

  1. What would you do if this person had been here one year instead of twelve?
  2. What is the cost of waiting another six months?
  3. Have you been clear with them about what needs to change?
  4. What does the rest of the team need to see from you?
How the council works on it

What happens when you bring difficult personnel decisions to the room.

  1. You put it on the table

    You lay out the situation in your own words, with the numbers and history that matter. Ten or so owners give it their full attention.

  2. Questions before advice

    The room asks questions like the ones above until everyone, including you, understands the real issue. Often that’s where the breakthrough happens.

  3. Experience, not opinions

    Owners who have faced something similar share what they did and what they would do differently. No competitors sit at the table, so nobody holds back.

  4. You make the call

    The group doesn’t run your company. You decide what to do, with a lot more perspective than you walked in with.

  5. Say it out loud

    You name your next step before you leave. Next month, the room asks how it went.

What you leave with

A clearer view of the real issue, a next step you can live with, and the perspective of owners who have made the same call. The decision stays yours.

Bring this to the table Why it matters: Experience you don’t have to earn the hard way

Related conversations

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Prefer to work on difficult personnel decisions privately instead of in a group? I also do this one-on-one (opens JeffreyRands.com in a new tab).