Exit Humanity

Re-listening to the source of yesterday’s post, with a woman responsible for, among others, a dysfunctional £900m organisation, I noted that there was a terrific 60 seconds where she described how her nickname of the terminator came about.

She’d sat down with the most senior of staff and shown them the door in about 150 instances. Any sales leader needing to end someone’s tenure would do well heed her advice. Here’s what she said;

You come to view that ‘we can’t go on this journey together’;

you’re either ‘haven’t got the skill set or the experience’,

or ‘you’re in such opposition to me that we’re not going to make this work’.

It’s never easy. I’ve always found it hard.

People are angry, they’re upset.

And I think how you treat people in their moments of exit is hugely important. Not only for them, for you, but also for the rest of the organisation.

So the maintenance of humanity I think for me is part of a key criteria of being a leader in any organisation.

But you can’t shy away from it.

My advice is always to act decisively because then people will make the adjustments.

This is so far from the actions of so many a salesteam I’ve witnessed it’s scary.