How common is this scenario?: The CIO needs to improve the
quality and credibility of the firm’s IT implementations, but since
he lacks the money and resources he believes would be needed,
he’s looking for a less expensive way to boost IT’s performance.
If he asked you, what would you recommend? Beats me as well,
but Michael Schrage, co-director of MIT’s Media Lab and a monthly
columnist for CIO magazine, has a snappy
comeback: Fire the right person.
And don’t kid
yourself that you don’t know who that is: It’s the person
who’s the consistent obstacle to bringing projects in on time,
who’s the prima donna, who may be a brilliant coder but who views
his peers as jerks.
Are there reasons to keep that person? There always are. Firing
someone is, we hasten to add, a drastic measure not to be undertaken
without contemplating the potential fallout to morale, not to mention
the pain inflicted on the fire-ee.
But a "strategic" firing
can deliver a powerful message, and for sheer thriftiness among competing tactics it can’t
be beat. Give it some thought.
