DCI America

by Wayne Weiner D.Ed.

Insanity comes in all kinds of packages and degrees. We have all witnessed vanity insanity when an aging middle aged man comes to a board meeting with a bad dye job and doesn’t think anyone will notice. He soon gets non-verbal feedback from his colleagues that there are better ways to weather his midlife crisis. But my theme is replacement insanity, that ever present misguided insanity that occurs when managers believe that all the ills of the company will be fixed if the company fires one or two employees.

Leadership teams afflicted with replacement insanity lose their ability to think clearly about the root causes of their company’s poor performance. You know what downsizing jitters can do to a company, so don’t become a willing accomplice to this madness.

All replacement insanity gets you is new targets for the next round of terminations. Think I’m kidding? I was just brought in by a new client who has completely turned over his fourteen member human resource staff four times in five years. During this time, because human resource personnel were paying more attention to their own survival than the needs of employees, an employee union gained staggering power.



Don’t allow supervisors to exclusively fix blame on employees, try this. The next time you are at a management gathering, calmly ask this,” If you are responsible for the supervision of your staff why do you still have poor performers?” Now observe the absurdities flowing freely.



Some will say that new employees are not as motivated as old hires. False, all recent research shows that new employees are extremely motivated. In fact, survey’s discovered new employees display a high curiosity about how their efforts contribute to the organizations’ future.

Other supervisors will say that the human resource department policies do not allow them to discipline or correct poor employee performance. This is a supervisor favorite theme. It is spectacularly false. Well written policies can be used to set standards of behavior for both supervisors and employees, policies can be used to correct behavior before the behavior becomes problematic, and policies can be used as company value statements. So it isn’t policies which are hindering supervision. In fact, well designed policies are a marvelous proactive approach to employee satisfaction.



My goal is not to unhinge otherwise sane supervisors, but to point out that they can’t hide behind the myriad of excuses they use when dealing with employees. The truth of the matter is some supervisors are more comfortable terminating employees than coaching them. Not only is this tragic on many levels but it is wasteful.

The remedy for this insanity is to hold supervisors responsible for developing their people. First they have to understand in measurable terms what expectations they have for each employee and write them down. They have to ask themselves what evidence do I need that he/she is doing his/her job. Remember description is not analysis. It takes more than one observation to create a true employee profile.

Supervisors must own the fact that their most important job is to knock down employee work barriers. They must care without being a social worker. If the policies and human resource staff are in place to support employees they should not go over board attempting to counsel employees about their personal life choices.

If they can do these things replacement insanity can become a discussion piece not an organizational crutch.