HR and Basketball

I love basketball.

I love playing basketball. I love watching basketball. I love reading about basketball.

Anyway, I was reading about basketball the other day and saw an article about how the owner of the Golden State Warriors, Joe Lacob, praised Monta Ellis as the “core, franchise player” and said he’d like to see more out of Stephen Curry. Lacob then went on to discuss the possibility of trading players, including Ellis and Curry.

Now, you don't have to know anything about basketball to understand this post, but for a little background, Stephen Curry is a second year player who nearly won Rookie of the Year last year. Both Curry and Ellis are great players. In employment performance terms, these guys would both be top performers.

And that is what made me think to write this post. It is a relatively normal practice for basketball teams to trade top performers. Rumors of these trades have a bigger impact that just losing the player, as they also impact the play of other individuals.

I am from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and my "home team" is the New Orleans Hornets. In the off season, they traded Darren Collison who, along with Marcus Thornton, kept the franchise afloat when All-Star Chris Paul was injured. Collison was so good, even I considered what we could get for Chris Paul in a trade (shame on me). Instead the franchise traded Collison and completely remade their roster.

The impact was an 11-1 start that made most analysts eat their words.

Then a strange thing happened. The Hornets traded their back-up point guard, Jerryd Bayless for Jarret Jack, who was considered to be an upgrade at the position. After the trade, the Hornets went 10-17.

So, if Jarret Jack was an upgrade, I had to question why the Hornets got worse?

I am sure there are many reasons that impacted the record, but one reason is that trading Bayless when things were running smoothly was a statement that no one was safe in his position. Players can be producing at a good level, but they do not have job security. The impact of improving one position by breaking up a team had negative value.

Follow the Carmelo Anthony story as well. He is a perennial All-Star. When the rumors of the Nuggets trading him to New Jersey were all the sports media could talk about, his performance dropped significantly. The Nuggets were losing as well. When the Nets called off the trade, the Nuggets started winning big.

Of course, professional sports is a strange industry. Players make millions and are guaranteed this money based upon contracts. Job Security is found in the contract, but you may be relocated and possibly be playing for a worse team without a chance to win. For all that is worth, it beats the situation most employees face.

The concerns of most employees relate to the ability to pay the bills, maintain employment, and move forward in their careers. When the organization sends a clear signal that the employee is replaceable, the stress can mount exponentially. A statement like the one made by Joe Lacob not only impacts the main target (Stephen Curry in this case), it also impacts all the other players who see that a top performer is not safe.

I recently heard the edict, "hire slow and fire fast." While that is certainly a valid point of view, I would edit it to say, hire slow and address issues quickly. Sometimes addressing the issue means firing a top performer. If that is the case, then termination is the way to go.

I once had a manager who, frankly, was not given all the tools necessary to succeed. She worked hard and tried her best. Unfortunately, when a subordinate refused an order, the manager threatened violence. I hated to terminate this individual, but we had no choice. Her violation was too severe to allow her to remain employed. She was a good worker and could have been a great manager with training and time. We never saw that come to fruition because of her mistake. I was upfront with her when we conducted the termination and let her know that we valued her work but that we could not maintain employment.

Treating employees in a way that they feel safe, secure, and valued can help prevent negative interpretations of events. Likewise, employees should be told what is expected and what will not be tolerated. My experience has shown me that open, honest communication can help take the sting out of disciplinary action. In the situation above, the employee was thankful for how we handled the termination and that we addressed it quickly. She was not blindsided (like Stephen Curry was). She did not have to guess where the problems were.

My advice is to address performance issues with the employee before his or her actions become an issue. Show the employees that you value their input. Show them you respect them as individuals. Help the employees find ways to improve performance. Taking this perspective with employees makes it easier to give bad news.

...and it's certainly a lot better than reading about it in the news paper!