How to Identify and Weed Out Low Performers in Any Business

David Russo

Not many of us want to return to the days of Dickens and corporal punishment at the workplace (though I have been tempted now and then to welcome it with open arms!), so you have to figure out another way to punish those who are not contributors. Maybe “punish” is too strong a word. Maybe we take this in an end-around way because there is really no need for punishment. No need for sanctions. If someone isn’t doing his job and isn’t even a third-tier player (meaning he is not only unable to push the rock up the hill but actively dragging it down into the valley), you have to get rid of him. That person must be managed out. This is how it was once at GE under Jack Welsh, when ...