What to Do With Negative Employees

Source: Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from a blog post by Rita Keller.

There is an excellent post by Robert Sutton on Fast Company titled “What Good Bosses Do With Bad Apples.”

Sutton talks about great bosses having a “subtraction mindset.” They are always looking to remove bad or unnecessary things.

Think about these subtraction themes that could be explored inside your accounting firm:

• Getting rid of bad people is probably even more crucial than bringing in great people.
• At Baird, for example, they have a “no asshole rule,” and they have removed many selfish jerks.
• If you removed some people from your firm, would it be a more enjoyable and civilized place to work?
• If you absolutely can't spare a jerk because of extremely unique skills – rent an office on another floor or in another building and isolate him or her there.

A bad apple might not spoil the entire barrel, but its negative influence is really very far-reaching inside your firm.

I would guess that inside your firm there are more unnecessary things than people. How about eliminating some rules, policies and/or procedures?

Are there a few outdated checklists that you could eliminate? Are there several monthly firm financial reports that no one even looks at? How about your employee handbook? I reviewed one recently that still talked about using telephones in terms that have long been obsolete.

Take a few moments during this busy time to observe what is going on inside your firm. Do it with somewhat of a subtraction mindset. Are there any people you could classify as “bad apples?” Strive for KISS – Keep it Simple and Straightforward – relating to policies, rules and procedures.

For the complete blog entry, read “Accountants Are Known For Thinking About Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division.”

From Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders, the blog of Rita Keller, March 2, 2012. Visit http://ritakeller.com/blog/.