Revenue Journal®

Sometimes you mistakenly hire someone who turns out to be a rationalizer. Even though you've conducted several interviews and carefully checked references, nobody clued you in. You don't realize they're a rationalizer until they've been with you for you a while.

As they make mistakes, and you point them out, you always hear excuses. You start to realize that they are never going to face up to their shortcomings and make the necessary changes. People either change or make excuses. They can't do both.

Well, that's not strictly true. There are some people who protest at first, but after they've calmed down, they realize you're right, apologize, and then start to work on it.

They're in a different category: "knee-jerk-negative at first, but then comes around." These knee-jerkers just hate themselves when they make mistakes, which accounts for the knee-jerk negative reaction. But they will later admit they need work in that area, and they will take care of it. Outside of the frustration you'll feel whenever you get that initial negative reaction, these folks can improve and get the job done.

Back to the hard-core rationalizer. The fundamental problem is, this person sees situations in a way that does not coincide with the facts.

She may have told you that she did something, but she really didn't. She may think she is a victim of unfair treatment, when in fact her behavior is the main - and often the only - source of her problems. The behavior in others that she finds so offensive is triggered by her own behavior.

The rationalizer, when confronted, will immediately blurt out one of the favorite phrases of the five-year-old: "He started it!" "It's not my fault!" "No one cares about me!" The rationalizer always blames others for the problems she has created for herself.

The rationalizer is not a happy person. His unhappiness affects others, as does his tendency to blame someone else.

The rationalizer will literally drain your business of revenue. Why? Because he will:

• Interact with customers in a way that puts your company's reputation at risk - being rude to clients, telling clients one thing and then doing another, being sloppy with customer data, or sending out emails that have errors, are unprofessional, or unintelligible.

• Do things incorrectly and then attempt to hide it from you, so you can't solve the problem - which means, of course, the problem only gets worse and you have a real mess on your hands after a while.

• Discourage your truth-telling, productive employees. Others will see the cover-ups long before you will, and they will also have to do extra work because the rationalizer isn't pulling her weight. The longer you put off dealing with a rationalizer, the more you risk losing revenue-producing employees. At first, they will try to tell you, but if you ignore their warning, and don't take action, they will start looking for a new job. They will blame you for making life harder for them. They will think you are rewarding poor behavior. Nothing is more demoralizing for your better employees.

• Distract you from helping customers and other employees. In the course of a given day, you are either spending time on things that improve your ability to meet customer needs (translation = make more revenue) or you're focusing on someone who is causing problems internally.
  

Despite the fact that the rationalizer is not doing her own job well, she will always be bugging you about changing jobs or getting a promotion. Because she is lying to herself about her own behavior and mistakes, she thinks she is doing a fine job. She believes that she "deserves" a promotion. The only good thing about this is she will bug you about it, and you can use this as an opportunity to address the issue head-on.

Do you have a rationalizer in your company? Here are the steps you need to take.

1) Start documenting. You have to document what he is doing, right and wrong. This takes time and effort, but it has to be done. Start tracking and collecting the evidence every situation where the person fails to meet expectations.

2) Issue a warning letter. The letter should be "formal" and written in clear, specific language - including dates and details about each situation. The differences between what the person said in a given situation and what actually happened have to be clearly and bluntly documented. This warning will become a part of the person's file. If you have a "three strikes and you're out" policy, state that this is the first of three warnings and that the third warning will serve as grounds for dismissal.

3) Meet with him. You have to sit the person down with the evidence in hand. Make it clear that there is no way you can promote him into any other position unless these basic issues have been eliminated. In other words, these issues are behavior and character issues, which will undermine any job he does in the company. Make it clear that he has to change his behavior, and continue to behave properly, until it is obvious to everyone that the new behavior has truly replaced the old. Personally, I'd want the person to exhibit the new behavior for at least 6 months before I would consider a promotion. I would also make sure that others in his department could confirm that the transformation is genuine, with no backsliding.

4) Continue to check on him and meet with him. You have to give him the tools and assistance he needs, and have ongoing regular meetings to discuss his progress. The frequency of those meetings depends on the severity of the situation. If it's a big problem, meet daily. If it's not that bad, meet once a week. It will be very, very difficult for him to change - assuming he is going to be able to change - so frequent meetings are important. Especially at first.

5) If he improves, reward his progress. If he makes progress, reward him in a way that is appropriate, including slowly shifting him (as cautiously as possible) into new responsibilities. You can also put a new letter into his file, documenting his progress.

6) If he doesn't improve, start the replacement process. Start working on hiring his replacement. In the meantime, issue warning letter #2 and #3. This is a delicate timing exercise, since you'll want the new person to be ready to come on board just as you're giving he unreformed rationalizer the heave-ho.

7) Then, let the person go. If the person simply fails to improve, you will have to let him go, in everyone's best interest. Give him a humane severance, partly because it will be difficult for the rationalizer to find another job, and partly because rationalizers are more likely to hire a lawyer for wrongful dismissal ("It's not my fault!"). When that lawyer contacts you, you will be able to send the letters documenting substandard and inappropriate behavior, and the details of the more-than-fair severance. If you've followed the process correctly, the lawyer will have to tell the ex-employee that he doesn't have a legal leg to stand on.

People who have worked inside corporations that have HR departments and policies in place have a pretty good handle on this sort of thing. They know the drill. But it takes longer for a bureaucracy to notice a problem, because there are more people for the rationalizer to hide behind.

Entrepreneurs who have not worked in larger companies have no idea how these situations are supposed to be handled. They avoid doing it because it's uncomfortable, and it seems better to try to work with the enemy you know than to introduce new, untested, untrained, and unproven people. It seems tedious and troublesome to document unsatisfactory behavior - a terrible waste of time. It's tough to find good people to take the other person's place. All of these perceptions and concerns create momentum in favor of continuing to live with the problem instead of fixing it.

When it comes to the rationalizing employee, doing nothing is costlier than you think.

As I've mentioned, one rationalizing employee can affect literally dozens of high-performing, trustworthy employees. When a manager fails to resolve the situation, the "high contributors" become discouraged, then disillusioned, then downright depressed - assuming they haven't already bailed out.

All revenue-contributors have two basic requirements. They want to work where their contributions appreciated and rewarded, and they want their managers to recognize when someone is dragging them down or underperforming, and do something about it.

If their managers don't recognize what's happening, the contributors will say something, even though they know it's risky to do so. Your really good contributors will keep saying something until you do something about it, but they will also be considering another job by the time they have had to send you a second email or bring it up a second time in a meeting. Yes, that's right - they will be looking for a job that quickly.

And, if your rationalizer is one of ten people - for example - coming into contact with customers, that means 10% of your customers are frustrated and angry, and are telling others to stay away.

If your company has one or more rationalizers, it's time to take action. Your success depends upon it.