Delivering Brutal Feedback

Problem

"When I was working for a large Security Consulting practice, I hired an individual who had just been fired by one of the top security programs in our industry. He had been an intern in their incredibly competitive program, had then been hired full time to work in what was, at the time, probably the best security team in the industry, and then in less than a year completely washed out."

"Nobody is irredeemable, you just have to crack the code."

Actions taken

"I quickly came to regret my decision. He wasn't good with interpersonal communication or time management and he lacked personal hygiene. Initially, I managed him by giving gentle feedback, but he just wasn't getting the message. I eventually realized that I needed to give him brutal, honest, and direct feedback, such as that he smelled bad and he had to buy deodorant and wear it every day, or he wouldn't be able to continue working with us."

"I found that if I approached him in this really direct way, he almost never made the same mistake twice."

"After this event, I sat him down and explained that what he had done was terrible and that we had cause to terminate his employment. I explained client secrecy was of the utmost importance and that he had risked severely damaging our reputation. By explaining the importance of our company's client relationships I was able to have him avoid making mistakes that other consultants made around client relationships or getting drunk at professional events."

"He made a lot of different kinds of mistakes, and I had to manage him in a completely different way to my other consultants, by giving him this direct, brutal feedback."

"The first year was really difficult. He made a lot of different kinds of mistakes, and I had to manage him in a completely different way to my other consultants, by giving him this direct, brutal feedback. I don't think anyone had ever felt comfortable managing him in this way, but it was so worth it. I found that if I approached him in this really direct way, he almost never made the same mistake twice."

"He made some really big mistakes, and we ended up having some incredibly uncomfortable conversations."

"By the end of the year, he was a completely different person. At the end of two years, the individual who had fired him from his previous role was working in a different organization and we were able to sell this consultants services to him. The person who had fired him was keen to have him on his project because he did such good work."

"He ended up speaking loudly in front of everyone about the dumb mistakes one of our customers had made and the flaws in their applications."

Lessons learned

"The security engineer stayed at that company after I left and became a principal security consultant. Ultimately, he left and became the first security member of a high-profile startup in the Seattle area. This was incredible, as he had transitioned into a management role for himself. If you had told me that six or seven years ago, I would have been flabbergasted."

"When you have problematic employees that have characteristics that make them unsuitable for whatever role they're in, it can help to realize that each employee is an individual."

"When you have problematic employees that have characteristics that make them unsuitable for whatever role they're in, it can help to realize that each employee is an individual. Nobody is irredeemable, you just have to crack the code. I was very fortunate in this case to have figured out how to establish a connection early on with this engineer and how to help them so they could become successful in the field they wanted to be successful in."