How to never have to fire anybody again

Businesses with a strong culture may never have to fire anybody ever again, they will simply leave.

The above highlight is from Allistair McCaw, speaker, author and specialist in leadership and culture, with deep experience around elite athletes and sports teams. Yesterday when he tweeted this, I retweeted it, simply adding: “Exactly the same in a business with a powerful culture.”

In businesses truly and deeply committed to leading from Purpose and Values, there is no need for a manager or “boss” to enforce the culture, the business (ie the people within it) spit out those who don’t fit.

I’d go one stage further.

When a business makes that commitment, those who don’t fit leave of their own accord. No more energy, time and resource spent on taking time to remove “bad apples” who don’t want to leave, I have seen again and again that where people don’t fit the culture they leave.

In short, businesses with a strong culture may never have to fire anybody ever again, they will simply leave.

So, one tangible and measurable reason to invest in your culture is to make it easier and less expensive to be rid of jerks, brilliant or otherwise (see a post from three years ago, “Be Rid of Brilliant Jerks”)