92 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY In the case of team members reporting to the leaders, some of the things that called for forgiveness included unfinished tasks, errors at work, and inability to meet expectations. If these incidents were not a pattern, multiple opportunities were given to team members by the leaders to improve their performance. Two leaders shared specific instances where they had to let go of team members. In both instances, the leaders did not terminate employment simply because of poor performance. Rather, the leaders saw both team members as highly capable and knowledgeable. The leaders had talked to their respective team members multiple times, only to see a short-term improvement in performance. They could not understand or identify the reason for poor performance and after multiple attempts to help, they chose to terminate employment. Participant Z shared: I knew that he was capable of doing better than he was. But, for whatever reason, he was just not motivated. And I tried talking to him, counseling him, telling him what he needed to focus on over and over again … he might get better again for one day and then after that he would just be back to his own self of not functioning properly, working properly ... . I could never figure out what was going on—why he would not respond. And in the end, we just had to let him go. Participant I also shared a similar account about his team member, “This person had some personal issues. I do not know what it was. I could never figure it out.” Also, leaders chose to forgive team members reporting to them quickly when it was a one-time error or an anomaly. Participant X said, “I am trying to understand – is that a pattern? You know, do they do that all the time? If it is a pattern, then you will be more formal about trying to address a mistake or a blunder. But again, if it is a one-off thing … then forgiveness tends to be pretty high on the list of options.” Leaders had to choose to forgive customers when customers failed to keep their commitments. Participant I said: You give people a couple of opportunities. At least, I would say, one or two times … the third time, we kind of make it formal and we say, “OK, there is no more forgiveness—this is the last chance.” And if it can be fixed, great. If not, we are going to change the way.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODc4ODgx