Every office that employs more than a couple of people, tends to have that one employee who has a hard time catching up with others.

He’s the weakest link, and he’s slowing everybody down.

His ineffectiveness is ruining the company’s flow, and he has a hard time fitting with the rest of the team on work and non work related basis.

But he’s trying. You see him giving a solid effort each an every day, but somehow it’s not enough.

Before you decide to fire this specific individual, it is of crucial importance that you give him or her a benefit of a doubt.

You never know, maybe you got yourself a late bloomer.

Maybe he just needs more time and a bit more patience from his fellow colleagues and management to get into the zone and start working like the ones that are considered to be the best employees.

Maybe he’s just scared and still hasn’t quite found a way to adapt to a new environment.

In order to save you from making a terrible mistake, here are a couple of practices that I think everybody should try before they decide to fire someone:

1.Locate The Problem

Before acting on a problem, you must first know what’s it about. In order to do that, you need to communicate with a person who’s not performing on an desired level.

Maybe he doesn’t feel inspired with what he does? What if he has talents that are a better fit for a different position? Could it be that he really doesn’t feel welcomed by his new team members?

Is it possible that he needs better equipment to do his job, or maybe just an option to work remotely? – You’ll never know if you don’t ask a question.

Whether you end up firing this person or not, it is always of great value to receive feedback.

Who knows, maybe you’re truly doing something wrong or maybe some sort of advice could really help you make your office a better working place for not just that troubled employee, but for everyone with whom you work with.

2.Exercise Patience

Patience is not only a virtue at the office, but in life as well.

A couple of years ago, I used to work with this one guy who was just awful at his job.

He was constantly messing up reports, blowing deadlines and his frustration with his workload was affecting all of us. He was driving us mad.

Although I’m a bit ashamed to admit this now, I was truly praying for the day when my manager would come down to sack him.

Instead of that, he called the guy up to his office and they had a long talk.

After that, my manager spend a couple of days working closely with this “weak link”, and you know what? – The guy stepped up.

In just over a week, he became a solid member of our team. In fact, for that time, an irreplaceable one.

Showing a little patience can get you far in life. Always remember that every single one of us is wired differently.

Some are able to get things on the go, others need more time and focus. It doesn’t mean that they’re less capable than the first group.

It means that they just process information on another level.

3.Find Out if He’s Good at Something Else

After you talked to the person and patiently gone over every part of the job where he lacks in efficiency, and you still don’t see any improvement on his behalf, then maybe you should try finding something else for him to do.

Maybe he’s a perfect fit for some sort of a different position, and he doesn’t even know it.

I used to work at this firm as an ad manager. Although I did a solid job, I was never really great. If they wanted to, they could have easily replaced me, at any given moment.

And if they had done it, I wouldn’t  blame them.  I never felt inspired by that position. I wasn’t really in it. I never saw myself as an ad manager.

Once I finally built up the courage to quit this job, and move on to thing (writing) that really interested me, I became a lot more valuable as an employee.

Why? – Because writing doesn’t really feel like a job to me. I really like transforming my thoughts into words, and typing them down. It’s a thing that I enjoy doing, and that’s why I’m good at it.

Maybe you have someone like me in your team. Maybe you have a person who’ll be far better and productive doing something else.

Before you decide to let him go, always consider the opportunity of giving a certain someone a chance to stay with the company, in a different role.

It helps build great atmosphere within the firm, and it shows your employees that you really care about the people who come to you looking for a chance to better themselves and provide for their families.

Always keep in mind that it’s never easy to find people who actually want to work, and not just collect paychecks. Thus, it is of crucial importance that you fight for these type of workers.

You can easily teach people to do almost anything, but you can never teach them to want something. And that’s important here.

Before giving up on a certain someone with a healthy attitude towards work, be sure that you have explored all the options.

Be sure that you tried your best to keep this person under your wing and give him or her a chance find to themselves in your company.

I hope you found these tips useful. Be sure to follow our blog, we’ll be posting content that helps firms deal with their productivity and other work related issues.

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