Facing Legacy As A Leader: What To Do With A Team Member Who Is Now Legacy

The road to the C-suite is never easy. Leaders who make it to the very top of the corporate ladder have learned to extend far beyond their original technical skills (technology, sales, product development) to management skills (communication, adaptability, empathy). One of the most difficult elements of the role is not the strategic but the personal: in particular, when a team member simply isn’t working out. While most people experience (or fear experiencing) being the person who isn’t performing well, the truth is that any strong effective leader struggles with being the person who makes this decision. I’ve had so many clients either struggle to identify underperforming team members or resist articulating that reality to the person impacted.

Here are the best ways to recognise and address a team member who is now legacy.

Performance is personal. When I say someone who is legacy, I mean the person has reached the limits of their potential, in their current role, or within the current strategy of the company. This is an important distinction. I have managed or advised leaders who had team members who weren’t performing well in another organisation or even in just another department. In a different role, they thrived. So potential is personal and specific to the organization and the role. As a leader who is making the most important strategic decisions of the company, it can feel like a personal failure when someone is moving into a legacy status. And that’s not just due to ego—a bad hire can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars . Leaders love to be right (you’re so surprised, right?) and it can feel like a personal failure when someone they saw as a long-term fit, ceases to be so.

But it doesn’t mean that person is a “failure”. It simply means that person’s strengths no longer align or have reached the extent of their potential with the goals of the organisation. It’s important for leaders to recognise that as painful as a legacy team member is, it doesn’t mean that the employee or the leader has failed.

Honest communication is vital. Second only to my clients’ resistance to recognising that an employee is underperforming, is their resistance to tell the person. This is easy to understand—you don’t need a licensed psychologist to explain why. If we have any humanity or decency, we feel badly when we know we are going to disappoint someone. We all avoid pain —physical and emotional—and we go to surprising lengths to minimize that discomfort. Add to that the fact that leaders take it personally when a team member has outlived their potential in a role, and it’s excruciating. I tell people on the receiving end of this conversation all the time—it’s really not personal, it is a business decision. And we work with their emotional response to what is happening, with sensitivity. But for people giving this news, it’s more blunt: tell them. Do it today, preferably yesterday. It’s not going to improve. It’s not going to be easy. But it’s unfair for someone to come to work each day, presumably doing their best to contribute, unaware that others no longer have confidence.

What’s even worse: many legacy team members sense it. They might think they are having a rough week, or not communicating clearly, or blame someone else. But most of us are self-aware enough, especially those reporting to C-suite or senior leadership teams, when our contributions simply aren’t landing the way we want. They might be initially upset, but on another level, it is likely not a complete surprise.

A team member who is now legacy doesn’t reflect a failure of the leader or the member.

The most important thing to remember is that people lose jobs and leave jobs and go on to thrive elsewhere. Companies change, and with that change comes differing needs. Leaders move on and bring in their own teams and styles and not all of the existing employees remain the best person for the role. In other words, it is critically important to recognize when a team member is now legacy. And it’s vital to communicate it. At the same time, it isn’t indicative of a crisis in the organisation. I advise leaders across a variety of industries, generations, cultural backgrounds and geographical locations—this comes up again and again. It’s the inevitability of the constant evolution and adaptation that good leaders embrace. It’s a painful situation, but not necessarily a bad one.

This article first appeared on The Robert Kovach Blog.

Dr. Robert Kovach has spent his entire career working as a trusted advisor to senior leaders wanting to improve the effectiveness of themselves, their teams and their companies. Prior to starting his own consulting firm, Robert led the global executive assessment and development team for Cisco . Earlier in his career Robert held leadership roles with RHR International , PepsiCo , Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School and the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary .