While I believe senior living is unusual in that it has fewer jerks than many, if not most, industries there are some.

By Steve Moran

I am in the process of reading a book called the No Ass**** Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t. While I believe senior living is unusual in that it has fewer jerks than many, if not most, industries there are some.

If you have one or more of those kinds of people in your organization you need to . . . as soon as you are done reading Senior Housing Forum today go and fire them (or start the firing process).  

I don’t care if they are better at their job than anyone who has ever worked for your organization.

I don’t care if they are the number one salesperson in your organization, they need to go.

I don’t care if you can’t imagine that your organization could even function without them, they need to go.

Your Organization Will Be Better

There is a huge amount of research that says getting rid of super jerks will make every organization better. In the book, they tell the story of how a store’s founder fired a superstar salesperson. After the jerk was gone, the rest of the sales team in that store not only made up for the sales the superstar was closing but actually collectively increased stores revenue overall.

You will make more money and your retention and recruitment efforts will be better. Your life as a leader will be easier.

Keeping these folks creates an atmosphere of distrust. Everyone who works around these jerks will spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to avoid dealing with the jerk’s negativity and that is time and effort they are not spending on serving your residents.

Be Careful

Just because someone is shy or gruff does not mean they are a super jerk.  Sometimes your best people are shy and awkward and socially inept. Don’t fire those people. Figure out how to work with their uniqueness.

Just because they are demanding and push themselves and others to be better does not mean they are a super jerk.  They may, in fact, be the individuals that are moving your organization.

Everyone has a bad day and that must be forgiven. This is about getting rid of that person who seems to delight in meanness, in hurting others, in embarrassing others.

GO FIRE SOMEONE . . . RIGHT NOW!