Suboptimal relationships will damage your company
One of the most difficult aspects of being a leader is concluding relationships that do not profit your organisation. However, this is necessary if you want your business to progress in line with its potential.
Prioritise pragmatism
As a leader you must be as pragmatic and objective about your professional relationships as possible. This can be tricky, because as time passes subconscious familiarity strengthens even weaker bonds, which can evolve into a misplaced loyalty. Human nature means we are more likely to be generous and give people the benefit of the doubt, but it is important we know where to draw the line.
Putting the needs of your company above these relationships is essential if you wish to achieve growth and improvement. Consider your stakeholders, particularly your employees and partner/suppliers and whether each of these interactions deliver what your organisation requires. Consult what information you have available to make this decision, but often you will already have an inclination which of these relationships are suboptimal.
Do not feel that it is a poor reflection on your business that these unproductive partnerships exist. As companies grow, it is sometimes necessary to engage in stakeholder relationships that don’t perfectly match your wider ambitions. Whilst this is true for many organisations, it is those that move on to more ideal interactions that surpass their competitors.
Define success
It is the default position to let relationships last too long; therefore, I advocate setting out a clear success criteria. This pre-agreed set of targets and deadlines will allow you, as leader, to monitor progress and attainment more easily and also remove any doubt, or awkward conversations, at the time of review. If your success criteria is easy to understand and is readily available to the specific stakeholder, this will make offboarding a less stressful and more objective process.
The most vital element of this initiative is transparency. As long as you have been transparent with your stakeholders on what you want to achieve with each other from the offset, they should not be upset when you decide it is no longer working. It might be that your approaches simply do not align and consequently, you are unlikely to achieve your respective goals by working together.
Discuss it early
I would suggest that this success criteria is brought into the conversation as soon as the onboarding process. This means from day one, both parties know what is expected from the other. Another benefit of doing this is that you generally tend to acquire stakeholders that are more fitting with your wider company values and targets. Note, if you have not discussed the criteria with existing stakeholders, set up a meeting where you can go through these aims and when you would like to achieve them.
It surprises me that so many businesses have a variety of onboarding processes established, but have very little to guide them when they need to offboard. As a result, this conclusion tends to be awkward and can often leave a bitter taste in the mouth for both parties. Don’t let this happen to your organisation.
Find the best people. Offboard those holding you back. Be transparent about what you want, and when you want it. Do this and your work together will be as reciprocal and beneficial as possible.
If you would like to discuss any of the topics covered in this article, please book a FREE, no-commitment discovery call with me.