Villain

I had to ask a junior colleague of mine to leave my team and the organisation.

It was inevitable. Things weren’t working out between us. Every time I counselled him, condoned him, encouraged him and covered up for his follies, he invariably did the wrong things and brought the performance of the team down. His team members became hostile towards him, which made him defensive and withdrawn. They called him a villain and he reduced his interaction with them. A low soon followed in his performance and, in turn, brought the performance of the team further down. His team members complained, again.

This had been happening for a while. He had been allowed different job roles – all leading to dismal performances. Added to this was his habit of dropping off from work unannounced. Managers had had closed-door discussions about him. He had been reprimanded on several occasions, each time leading to him submitting his letter of resignation. Finally it was accepted. This morning, I had to let him know the organisation’s decision to relieve him from his job responsibilities.

Sometimes we are doomed to play the role of the villain. This time I wasn’t sure who the real villain was.