You had great expectations for a new hire. A few months after hiring, it becomes clear they are not suitable for the role or organization. They are failing to perform the most important parts of the job and behaving inappropriately. What should you do? Cut your losses and move them out as soon as possible or invest time and energy in trying to turn things around?
The cycle is predictable. Your church spent months securing finances for the position. You created the job description. You searched for candidates, interviewed finalists, and waited impatiently for your new hire to become available. Hope abounds that long-standing problems will finally be resolved with a fully staffed, competent crew.
But before long, you notice gaps between your expectations and the new employee’s performance. When your disappointment registers, you wonder if the new employee has the necessary skills to succeed eventually, or if you need to let them go. Before deciding on the employee’s future, here are the steps to follow:
Revisit role expectations.
Go back to the job description. Is the job that you originally designed still the job you expect this employee to do? Maybe you hired them knowing that they didn’t possess some of the skills you needed, but they brought other skills you value. They may have brought skills to the organization that led you to change your expectations. Do the job description and your current expectations match? If not, redesign the job description with the employee, and re-emphasize the essential functions of the job that must be satisfied.
Is the employee having regular one-on-one check-in conversations with their supervisor to clarify the organization’s expectations and to receive feedback on how things are going? The number one thing that all employees want to know is, “What is expected of me?” If the supervisor is disappointed in how things are going, they owe it to the employee to share those disappointments as clearly as possible, so the employee has a chance to meet expectations.
New employees should have a thirty-day and ninety-day performance review that is a mini version of an annual performance review. Even if you don’t expect them to be proficient in the job yet, show them the progress they have made and point out where immediate improvement is needed.
Clarify policies and practices.
New employee errors often stem from ignorance of the employer’s policies and procedures. Your congregation’s shared way of doing things may not be as evident as you think. Clearly articulate expectations about working hours, working from home, office hours, taking time off, confidentiality, timeliness, attendance, dress, personal cleanliness, the use of social media, personal use of church property, personal safety, etc.
If you do not have an employee policy manual, this is a good time for your personnel committee or governing board to start one. Use the lessons your new employee is learning as content to add to the policy manual. Each time you notice a policy or procedure that your new employee didn’t know about, put it into writing so that the next employee won’t have to make the same difficult discoveries.
Explore unstated assumptions.
Unstated assumptions are the deep, unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs and mental models that form the core of an organization’s culture (Edgar Schein). Most of us are unaware of the unstated assumptions that govern how we behave. They are rarely questioned, yet strongly influence how employees perceive, think, and feel about the workplace.
New employees often struggle with intuiting unstated assumptions. They behave in ways that violate the cultural norms of the organization without understanding why. Here are a few of the cultural beliefs that might sidetrack a new employee:
- Beliefs about conflict. Assumptions that harmony and consensus are always the goal and conflict should be avoided, or conversely, that disagreement is a necessary part of innovation.
- Beliefs about work-life balance. Assumptions about how much time and energy employees are expected to dedicate to work, such as whether working overtime is expected, or whether sabbath is protected.
- Beliefs about information sharing. The assumption that certain information is privileged and confidential, or shared freely with anyone with a need to know.
- Beliefs about the role of staff. Assuming that we are a staff-led organization and that laity look to staff for leadership—or that staff defer to the leadership of laity. Or assuming that the primary job of staff is to keep the members happy vs. the role of staff is to lead laity in the pursuit of mission, even when they are not happy about it.
- Beliefs about loyalty. The assumption that it is acceptable to gossip or spread rumors about coworkers, or that staff are first and foremost loyal to each other.
Working with new hires presents the opportunity to surface unstated assumptions. We can explore behavioral choices with them and explain what we think might have been a better choice.
Our discomfort with the way a new employee behaves is also an opportunity to reflect on whether our unstated assumptions are appropriate, or whether they foster a culture that is discriminatory: racist, sexist, or ageist. Ask yourself if the questioned behavior is really a problem or simply makes people uncomfortable because it challenges established norms of power and control.
When the norm is discriminatory, do what you need to do to raise awareness in the organization and change the norm. If the employee is not observing a legitimate and necessary norm, meet with them to clarify the norm and the underlying assumption.
Make a hard decision when you need to.
If you have explored these options and the employee still does not meet expectations, it may be time to release them. Letting go of someone you’ve invested in is discouraging. However, it is considerably less challenging to terminate an employee after a short period of employment than after they are well established.
Disappointment with a new hire is not unusual. A new employment relationship requires everyone to adjust. Investing time in revisiting the role, clarifying policies, and surfacing unstated assumptions can make the difference between success and failure.
Susan Beaumont is a coach, educator, and consultant who has worked with hundreds of faith communities across the United States and Canada. Susan is known for working at the intersection of organizational health and spiritual vitality. She specializes in large church dynamics, staff team health, board development, and leadership during seasons of transition.
With both an M.B.A. and an M.Div., Susan blends business acumen with spiritual practice. She moves naturally between decision-making and discernment, connecting the soul of the leader with the soul of the institution. You can read more about her ministry at susanbeaumont.com.
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