By Adam Turteltaub

Most of the time people look at the termination of a problematic employee as solving a problem. Bob Woolverton of Top Tier Leadership Training believes that thinking is a mistake. As he points out in this podcast, it’s not an end point. Instead, it’s the time to start, if you haven’t already, assessing how the organization got to this point.

The employee’s supervisor was responsible for ensuring the worker’s success and safeguarding his or her welfare. The termination begs several questions the manager should be asking:

* What should or could I have done to prevent this from happening?

* What is my culpability?

* If it’s a policy violation, am I certain the employee understood the policy, or did we just have him/her sign off?

* Did the policy not make sense in this environment?

* Was there an opportunity for misapprehension or misapplication?

The bottom line it is the time to start a reassessment process.

On an ongoing basis he recommends organizations’ managers take a “rudder tap” approach. What this means, in practice, is providing small adjustments to course when things begin to go awry, rather than waiting until things are so far off that a bad outcome is inevitable.

Making this method successful requires fostering an environment where people – both employees and managers – understand that corrections can be positive and a part of a healthy corporate culture.

Listen in to learn more about how a termination can lead to a process of positive change for the organization.