Why Netflix’s Patty McCord is (Mostly) Wrong
by Miki Saxon
“Troy,” a CEO I work with off and on, sent me a link to an article referencing Netflix Chief Talent Officer Patty McCord’s explanation of why you should immediately fire underperformers to explain (justify) his own actions.
McCord’s core advice is to think six months in advance, about what the company can and should do better, which will highlight the people who don’t have the skill set or drive to get there. (…) “I tell an employee I’m going to put you on a performance improvement plan, but the truth is they don’t actually know how to do what I need someone in their job to do. I did my six months out thing and realized she wasn’t qualified, and I put her on a plan even though it’s not an issue of performance, it’s an issue of skill set.”
This was the latest salvo in our ongoing disagreement on managerial responsibility when it comes to people—a subject we vehemently disagree on.
Troy says that young, fast-growth companies have no time to develop their people and when you have a lot of capital and very stringent targets to achieve [Wall Street quarterly reports, ed], you have to think differently.
I say that it’s mostly management’s fault, especially in larger companies like Netflix because they should be growing their people all the time so their skill-set is ready for the challenge; obviously, I’m not referring to those employees who need to be dragged kicking and screaming into their future.
Startups, fast growing and established companies all need to add the right talent to get where they are going.
Good managers assess the situation, current and future, and inform employees regarding their promotional opportunities.
Further, good managers keep them informed of what new skills they will need in the future, as well as the best way to acquire them.
I read about and know personally thousands of good managers who work hard to grow their people, so they are ready for the new challenges coming down the road.
There are also plenty of companies with good programs in place that bad managers won’t use.
Yes, people deserve to know the truth regarding their opportunities and McCord’s approach when termination is the right course is extremely humane—but few companies would spend the resources.
“Instead, I could have told the employee, ‘here’s what I’m going to need six months from now, and here’s the talent and skills I’ll need. Then you tell her, ‘It’s not you. I don’t want you to fail. I don’t want to publicly humiliate you.’”
However, if that person’s actual manager had been doing his/her job the situation McCord describes might never have happened.
That’s the part that Troy doesn’t get.
Upgrading employee skills and adding new ones is an ongoing process that requires better and stronger management skills and more work than McCord’s approach—hers is the easy way out.
During my 40+ years around the workforce there have always been managers who build their people and those who don’t.
- Those who do build understand that people are holistic and it takes more effort to instill cultural understanding and rebuild group morale after someone is terminated than it does to keep upgrading skills.
- Those who don’t build believe that it’s easier to replace than train/build employees.
But demographics are against them. Replacing people will only become harder as the economy improves and the number of working people and their experience continues to go down.
stock.xchng image credit: arte_ram
