It will happen but it should be a relatively rare event if you’re doing everything you should. We all make mistakes and you might make this mistake.
Or you may inherit this problem which is not unusual if you are leading in an organization trying to change the culture and improve performance.
If the evidence proves you made a bad hire or wrong promotion or inherited one, quickly and effectively address it. Take ownership. Don’t allow your customers and other employees to experience the costs and consequences. Bad hires and promotions don’t get better with time. Toxic supervisors can do a lot of damage.
It could be the person who everyone thought was right for the job or ready for the promotion but just cannot get there even with help and time. It may be the toxic employee or supervisor you got when you took over from a previous manager or CEO. This employee will cost you customers, employees, morale, productivity, and reputational damage. They cannot stay.
You will make mistakes. A defining quality of a good leader is we admit our mistakes. We do it openly, honestly, and quickly. We listen when others are proving to us there’s a problem which needs our attention.
We solve problems and correct mistakes. We learn. If we inherit a bad personnel decision by a prior leader, we deal with it. Leaders don’t pass the buck.
The wrong leader who makes a bad hire or promotion will not think of the mission or team. They will worry, “How will this look for me?”, so they will keep the employee in place doing damage.
The right leader doesn’t let others pay the price. We take responsibility. The team, customers, and mission must come first.
Sources: Abrashoff (2002); Collins (2001); Drucker (1999); Maxwell (2011, 2013); Starling (2008); Welch (2005).
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