Last week I had to let a counselor go from Pet Camp. It was the first time in ages that I personally had to fire someone and, frankly, it sucked. It was the right thing to do – for both the counselor and Pet Camp – but it was still pretty miserable.
I guess firing someone is supposed to be unpleasant. You are disrupting someone’s life, impacting their livelihood, probably screwing with friendships and who knows what else. But sometimes it is still the best thing for everyone involved.
This individual was fine with the dogs (if you’re not fine with the dogs being asked to leave Pet Camp is a no-brainer and happens very quickly) but she was terribly disruptive to the team and was, as the folks in HR say, “toxic” to the team, and pet care is a team sport.
So why, if I know all of this, do I still feel bad? I suspect it has something to do with Pet Camp’s values. I’ve read the books that say, “hire slow and fire fast.” You know, take your time to make the right hiring decision, but when someone is not working out or undermining morale or performance get rid of them immediately.
At Pet Camp I have to admit we both hire slow and fire slow (maybe even slower). We’re big believers in a second chance (maybe even a 3rd or 4th chance) when it comes to people. We want to think that things will improve, maybe with a bit of coaching or some extra training.
I suspect we can improve someone’s skill set with more coaching and training. We can teach someone to be better at clipping a dog’s nails or how to better observe body language to predict when two dogs need to be distracted from each other to avoid a scuffle. But what can you do about a “toxic” attitude? Can you every really address that? Do you keep someone who has great skills, but is a burden to the team?
I get that the five of you who might read this blog post probably won’t be sending me any pearls of wisdom, but thanks for letting me vent for a few paragraphs.
Thanks for reading.