We’ve all been there. After an extensive and thorough search for a key manager, one candidate stands out. This candidate has the right experience, solid qualifications, and a relevant work history, and has given an impressive performance during the interview process. She said the right things, put forward some great ideas and generally presented very well. You commit and make the hire. Three months later, you begin to question your decision. Your new hire’s team appears disgruntled, morale is low, and output and productivity are well behind the figures from the previous quarter. After investigating further and speaking with a few key team members, you realize there is a disconnect—a mismatch. While the hire looked impressive on paper and presented well during one-on-one interviews, your new hire’s style, approach, and behavior on the job are simply inconsistent with the values and expectations of your organization. Your new hire is not a good fit and you need to make a change. We are going to look at seven reasons this could be.

1. Inadequate Capability

Don’t judge a book by its cover, and don’t believe what you read on a resume!

Capability refers to the skills, tools and experience that a person needs in order to successfully perform her job. When any of these factors are missing, there is an increased chance that the employee will underperform.

Diagnostics that help you identify if an underperforming employee has adequate capability:

Skills—Do you know what skills are needed to perform the job and whether the employee possesses those skills? If she doesn’t possess the necessary skills, how will you help her acquire them, and how long do you expect that process to take? Skills training takes time and money, and results are never guaranteed unless there is adequate commitment from both the manager and the employee.

Tools—Even if an individual has the skills and experience to do the job, does he have the tools to deliver peak performance? The tools don’t have to be the most up-to-date, they just need to work well.

Experience—Just because an employee has the skills to do a job doesn’t mean that he has the experience to apply those skills in his specific position. This is especially true for recent graduates, outside hires from different industries and internal hires from different departments.

2. Poor Job Fit

“Fit” reflects the behaviors and interests needed to succeed in a job

Many people fall into the trap of choosing a profession or job that is a bad fit. We are who we are. Our “mental DNA” is influenced both by our genetics and our early life experiences, and it is almost completely formed by the time we are 20 years old. Rather than trying to understand ourselves so that we can choose a calling that builds on our strengths and aligns with our interests, we choose jobs because of peer pressure and societal influences.

Skills can be taught, but behaviors are much more difficult to change

Skills can improve through training and mentoring, but it takes tremendous effort and motivation to change natural behavior. If an individual isn’t motivated to change, then he probably won’t.

It is important to understand a person’s innate behaviors and interests when trying to match him with the right job. Know the job, know what type of person is successful in that job, and then hire others who have the behavioral traits that fit that job. This is easier said than done because it is difficult to gauge behaviors in a job interview, but behavioral assessments can be extremely helpful.

3. Fuzzy Goals and Accountabilities

Clear goals help focus and motivate employees to achieve the desired results

Employees need to be very clear about their responsibilities and about the results you expect them to achieve. Daily work and priorities are easily affected by the crisis of the day, new requests or changes in direction. Setting and tracking SMART goals helps your employees focus on what is most important to your business, and clear accountabilities help ensure that the work gets done with minimal conflict.

Use SMART goals to create clarity and improve the employee’s performance

Specific–Your employee has a much better chance of accomplishing a specific goal than a general goal.

Measurable–Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

Aligned–The individual’s goals need to support the organization’s priorities.

Realistic–To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work.

Timed–A goal should be grounded within a time frame; otherwise there is no sense of urgency.
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