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| BLACK MONDAY |
The season has ended and owners are not pleased to have missed the playoffs and a quest for the Super Bowl. Depending upon the organizational structure of the team, the coach and/or the General Manager can be fired for missing the mark across numerous areas - losing seasons, poor coaching, inadequate draft picks, and volatile personnel selections. After all the future of the team depends on great talent acquisition, playing towards the strengths and dimming the weaknesses, and understanding when change is necessary to find the way to win. More correctly put - the future of the Head Coach and the General Manager rests on the ability to determine the best solutions to develop or maintain a championship-caliber team.
If every CEO truly evaluated his company's staying power based on its performance or lack thereof, there would be more focused and motivated employees dedicated and committed to excellence because being fired is a viable option. It appears to be okay in the sports industry, especially the NFL. But in corporate America, would this be insensitive or smart?
It is smart because it would force every job to be created and supervised with clear measurable goals that could not be sidestepped. While performance evaluations are an antiquated way to track the development of an employee and work best for organizations that force camaraderie, collaboration and teamwork, clear metrics like the number of products and amounts of services sold, ROI on marketing initiatives, reduced expenditures, customer satisfaction ratings, and number of systems or applications created are well-defined. It would remove the under-performers quickly so that they don't have the chance to stay on payroll with no function. It would also remove the shock that government and large Fortune 500 employees experience when there are layoffs that potentially cut into their pension-earning benefits.
The insensitivity only comes into play based on how the firing is done. A text message, voice mail, or conversation immediately before a major publicized event is unprofessional and disgracing. However, advanced notice is great with a constraint to allow 2 hours to remove belongings in quiet while others are not around with a bonus and payment until the end of the contract or whatever is negotiated for the severance package.
A person who did not perform to the boss' liking is may be a better fit for another organization. Rex Ryan will more than likely do well with the Buffalo Bills, Jim Harbaugh will succeed with the University of Michigan after his stint with the 49ers, and John Fox may find his way with the Chicago Bears after missing the Super Bowl run with the Denver Broncos.
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