Steve Tobak describes himself as a management consultant, executive coach, speaker and former senior executive in the high tech industry. He currently manages the strategic consultancy Invisor, based in Silicon Valley.

Based upon his experience, Tobak names 7 types of people who are better to fire without buts, and, the sooner the better. (But what he doesn’t say is: it would have been better having not hired them, but sometimes appearances fool us):

• The Troublemakers. Those who create more problems than they solve.
• The ones who Overpromise and Under-deliver.
• The ones that Act Out With Customers (who are hard to gain and easy to lose).
• The ones that Can’t or Won’t Do the Job (and that’s why you hired them!).
• The ones who are Flaky. Some people look the part but, when push comes to shove, you can’t count on them or trust them.
• Ones that feel they are Entitled. Half their mind is on the job and the other half is just waiting for someone to slip up so they can denounce their mistake.
• Those who ignore the rules of conduct. The insubordinate ones, the liars, etc.

“People are always complaining about how stressful their job is but, in my experience, there’s nothing more stressful than having to deal with employees who aren’t cutting it and drag down the whole organization”, Tobak says.

These are the ‘negative’ employees, the undesirable employees.

With reference to the positive ones, those who create a good working environment, the opposite applies. They must be encouraged, so they feel that they are an important part of the company. I have heard more than one honest businessmen saying: “Companies are made by their people”.

Published by René Aga in ‘Construyendo capital humano’ on 14th May 2014