I Thought We Were Okay

I was reminded recently how often everyone is surprised when someone is terminated.

Not a reduction in force. Not a mass layoff. One person, told to clear out their desk.

An employee was let go after months of attempts to get things right. He was caught completely off guard.

It seemed straightforward. He failed a required certification for the third time. That was the final straw, according to leadership. But that wasn’t the whole story.

From the outside, the decision sounded obvious. But the employee was dumbfounded…and he was right to be.

The first time he failed, leadership was understanding. They gave him more time.

The second time, more understanding. More flexibility.

The third time, nothing seemed different. Same tone. Same patience. No mention of what would happen if it happened again. Then a meeting with HR appeared on his calendar.

Leadership believed they had been patient.

Meanwhile, the employee believed the certification must not have been that important. If it were, the response would have looked different by now.

They experienced the same three conversations.

Each time, they walked away with two different expectations.

People don’t learn your standards from what repeatedly gets said.

They learn them from what repeatedly happens next.