A senior sales leader has a weak performer on his team. Week after week, in their one-on-ones, he tells him the numbers are not coming. He believes the message could not be clearer.
Months go by. When he finally makes the call, with HR on the line, the man across from him is shocked.
I hear some version of this story across our industry again and again. The leader thought he had been clear since spring. The person on the other side heard encouragement.
Why strong leaders wait
These are good leaders. That is what makes it hard.
The person they are holding on to may have been there for years. He may be running a large deal that nobody wants to rock. He may have been loyal when it counted, and the leader feels he owes him one more quarter. And then one more.
There is also the question of how it will look. Will the team think I am cold? Will my boss ask why I hired him (or kept him, if I didn’t even hire him)? So the decision gets routed through HR or parked until the next review cycle.
When the leaders I talk with finally act, they tell me the same thing afterwards. They waited too long. “Two or three months” is the gap they describe. The facts are actually quite different. Some of them have been “on hold” for more than 18 months!
Why waiting costs more now
Two years ago a slow people decision might have cost you a quarter. Today it costs more.
Your clients are moving at the speed of AI. Every seat filled by someone who is not delivering is a seat your client is paying for. Somewhere a competitor is offering the same work with fewer people and a shorter plan.
Your strongest people notice. They always have. They watch who gets carried, and they draw their own conclusions about what “performance really means here”.
What the leaders who get this right do
They say the hard sentence early, in plain words.
"The numbers are not coming" is a weather report. It lets the other person nod and hope.
Compare it with this. "If this quarter ends below the number we agreed, I will need to move you out of this role. What do you need from me between now and then?"
Then they ask one more question. "Tell me what you just heard me say." It feels awkward the first time. It can also save you six months.
My only point here is this. Being kind and being clear can live in the same sentence. The leader who says both at once keeps the trust of the whole team. That includes the person who has to go.
Three questions for this week
Who on your team have you been giving "one more quarter" for more than two quarters?
What exact words did you last use with that person about their performance?
If they repeated those words back to you, what would they say they heard?
Get your free personalized read. The Executive Leverage Scorecard, 15 questions, 3 minutes. Results are immediate. You will know what to do next.
Raju Panjwani | Founder of Live Masterminds, Inc.
I was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley for 18 years. I now work with senior leaders in IT services and technology consulting, on becoming the leader the business now needs.