This is part 1b of my lessons learnedseries. Part 1 is about managing techniques and philosophies.

As mentioned in part 1a, this exercise is as much for me as it is for you. I need to type this out to remind myself of what is important.

Today’s lesson:

Sometimes you hire the right person but have them in the wrong position.

I’ve seen it time and again through my career. You have someone you like, trust and know actually works when they are at work. You know they are loyal and dedicated to the cause but things just aren’t panning out the way you’ve expected.

Here’s a piece of advice that has carried me through the years. Move them to another department before getting rid of them. Often, they’ll excel and become an asset for you.

The key is to match the person to the role.

An obvious analogy would be sports coaching. As a manager, you have the right and responsibility to take a good pitcher out of the game if his arm is getting tired and put in a closer. Perhaps moving a player from short-stop to third-base will make him an all-star. Maybe he’s so good at hitting home runs that you throw him in right field where he can’t do too much damage to your defense.

American football coaches turn wide receivers into tight ends and tight ends into wide receivers if that’s what their game plan needs to succeed.

I’ve moved people from sales to support and support to sales. I’ve moved people from marketing to finance and finance to IT.

The more you get to know your staff, the more you are able to see where they fit in.

Just recently we moved a few people around in our company and the plan has worked great. Our old finance guy is now managing click campaigns and excelling at it.

Someone from the watch division is now bringing home big contracts for domain auctions.

I’m often asked how I have so many people that have been with me for ten years or more. The answer is that all of them are doing something different than they were doing ten years ago, just as I am and the company is. Times change and your business must be fluid.

You don’t hire salespeople, support people or IT people. You hire people. Your role is to find what position they can play the best.