Best-selling authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan are still chatting about Execution on Chad's CD player as he pulls out of the parking lot of Tracy's building to head back to his office. Choosing to stop his continuing business education for a minute, he turns down the volume on the Execution guys and takes stock of the day. It isn't an uplifting experience.

First, there was the mess at the dry cleaners; then there was the dust-up with Phil, which had ended okay, but was a definite loss because Lynne was now monitoring the situation. The sales and financial meetings had plodded along but were nothing special. The strategic planning update was a minor loss. His team was behind on the goals they had all agreed upon. The Steve Moreno meeting was a disaster. It's never good when the customer bites your head off in front of one of your employees. He had to admit lunch was no better than a draw. He landed James, but wound up paying more than he had anticipated. Chad wondered what, if anything, he could have done to get James on board, feeling great, at the right budget number.

Then there was Tracy. This meeting was the most confusing to Chad. The result was fine; they were hoping for her to move on price and delivery, but didn't count on it. She listened, agreed they were doing well, and agreed to keep listening. Overall, that was a minor accomplishment. But, as he replays Tracy's small biting comments, he becomes concerned—that she seemed far more connected to Randy than to him. In terms of business hierarchy, Chad and Tracy should have been in perfect sync; they were both the bosses. This is not a successful day, Chad realizes. And he had vowed he would make it great after that lousy 360 on Friday. That's not how it's working out. He puts his Jawbone in his ear, picks up his BlackBerry, and hits Mike's number on speed dial.

"Hey, man, how's your Monday?" Chad starts.

"Well, I'm happy to report the week is off to a good start," Mike responds, "but I've got a dismal chore coming up. I've got to have one of those final warning talks with one of my guys. I don't enjoy them, but it's an important part of being the boss."

This is why Chad enjoys their friendship. Mike is never full of it. Chad knows if Mike says he had a good morning, there is a definite reason for it. Then Mike shares his trepidation about his next meeting. Mike gave a good, brief update and shared something about his current state of mind as well.

"I've got one of those coming up next as well," Chad shares. "Why don't these people just do what they are supposed to do, like we do?"

"Well, if they did, maybe we wouldn't have jobs, would we? Or even worse, maybe they'd be our bosses," Mike says.

"Yeah, you're right," Chad says, realizing Mike had commiserated with him but did not share the same complaints about his employees. Chad worries that Mike thinks he's whining—which, he admits to himself, he is.

"Listen, I'm calling to ask you for a favor," Chad continues. "I'm determined to get a better 360 next time, and I wanted to know if you could give me some big-time help."

"Sure," says Mike. "What do you need?"

"I know it's short notice, but do you have time to come to my production meeting at four today?" Chad asked. "I want you to watch what I'm doing and give me some pointers on the communications front. You're so much better at this stuff than I am; and I've got to pick up my game or I'm going to be working for you way sooner than I'll want to be."

This is a very flattering and sincere request. Chad is a sharp guy and a good friend. Mike tells him he can make it work.

When he gets back to the office, Mike checks his messages and drops a quick e-mail to Jeanie on the West Coast telling her that the numbers she sent had been very helpful. Mike is good at circling back with his employees. Jeanie deserves to be kept in the loop.

Then he takes a breath and leaves his office to find Gary. Out of all of his "boss chores," this is the one Mike finds most daunting. He has to have the final chat with an employee whose performance has dipped so low that he and everybody in the division knows he has one foot out the door.

Over the last few months, Mike has had to fight the urge to devote too much energy to Gary. His natural inclination was to pour a ton of work into saving an underachiever like Gary, who everyone recognizes as a bright and likable fellow. As Mike matured as a leader, he'd come to realize that wasting an inordinate amount of effort on your C− players meant you weren't spending nearly enough time with the Bs and As who were producing for you. That always led to poorer team performance and resentment from the successful employees.

Mike had invested just the appropriate amount of coaching time with Gary—depressingly, without significant improvement. He had followed all the proper human resources protocols leading up to the meeting.

He approaches Gary's cubicle. "Gary, I need to speak to you. I'd like you to please come with me to my office now." Mike has practiced everything he was going to say to Gary, including this opening salvo. He didn't ask Gary the facetious "Do you have a minute?" as he had done with many other employees with whom he'd had "the final talk." It was a ridiculous question, Mike finally realized. The employee almost always knew what was coming. What choice did they have? "No, I don't have time for a final trip to the woodshed, boss"?

Mike decides to unwrap his final warning speech to Gary without any of the tired bromides bosses had been using for years. After this meeting Mike wants Gary to leave his office, not a "dead man walking," but rather someone who knows exactly what steps he will have to take in what time frame in order to keep his job.

Mike has the typical "boss office" furniture. There's a decent-sized desk with two side chairs in front of it and his bigger, more comfortable chair behind it. In the corner, there's a small worktable with two more chairs. He only sits behind his desk when he's working on the computer or talking on his phone. He has every discussion with employees and corporate colleagues either at his worktable or in the two side chairs in front of his desk.

Mike offers the "you first" gesture and steps aside to let Gary into his office. Then he motions for Gary to sit in one of the side chairs in front of his desk and deliberately shuts the door slowly so they can have privacy and to underscore the gravity of the discussion.

"This is going to be a difficult meeting," Mike starts in as soon as he sits down. "I'm going to tell you four things about your performance that must improve right away, or I'm going to have to let you go. And Gary, when I say right away—I mean today. Your job is at risk right now and every day until you get to where you need to be in terms of performance. Let's get started."

Mike does not allude to the fact they had been over these and other performance issues items before. Unlike most other bosses, Mike feels that reminding failing employees standing at the point of no return that they had been warned repeatedly is a waste of time. Besides, it has all been documented in the HR paper trail. This meeting isn't about Mike covering his rear end on the labor rules front. Instead, it's a reasonable last attempt to help save Gary's job. Besides, Gary shouldn't have to be reminded this was well-trod ground. If he didn't know why he was sitting across from Mike, he'd have to be in serious denial.

Mike knows exactly what his job is for the next 20 minutes or so. He is there to give targeted coaching that will lead to immediate, measurable performance to save Gary from being fired. He also hopes to save his own division the considerable expense of severance and then hiring someone else for Gary's slot. Though Mike's forte isn't numbers, he knows that high turnover not only hurts morale and productivity, it's just flat-out expensive on the monthly P&L.

Gary sits up straight and pays close attention while Mike spells out in detailed terms four recent instances in which Gary either missed a deadline or turned in substandard work. Mike has his facts straight and goes slowly through each episode since their last discussion about Gary's poor performance last month. And, unlike most bosses in a meeting like this, Mike has prepared what he was going to say—and is very specific in the examples he gives.

Mike walks a fine line in this, the most difficult part of "the talk." He is disappointed and angry with Gary. Gary could perform better, and they both know it. But Mike had decided early on that his goal was not to explain his personal feelings about the sorry state of affairs that led to this meeting, but rather to help Gary succeed. Mike knows his emotions, good or bad, aren't relevant. This is all about improving Gary's performance for the division.

Just like Mike, Chad has a final tough talk meeting coming up next in his schedule. But he wants to let his boss Lynne know he was good with Phil, before the day goes on much longer. He picks up his phone and dials Susan's extension.

"Hey, Susan," Chad says. "Could you stop by my office in about 10 minutes? I have a few things I'd like to go over with you."

"Oh, ah, sure," Susan says. Her voice begins to crack, "Umm, really, I can come down the hall right now. There's nothing pressing on my desk, really."

"No, 10 minutes will work just fine," Chad says. He is so focused on the e-mail he has to compose to Lynne, he doesn't realize Susan is scared to death that she is about to be fired.

"Um, okay," says Susan. "Should I bring any reports or anything?" She, like everyone in the division, knows Chad loves to go over numbers and is forever asking for more data. She is hoping he wants some information and doesn't want to talk about her performance.

"No, I don't think so. Just show up in about 10," Chad says, letting Susan know this conversation is over.

"Okay, sure," says Susan. She hangs up the phone and notices that her hand is shaking. She hurries to the restroom to collect herself. Chad has no idea she's petrified.

Then Chad turns to his computer and quickly pounds out an e-mail to Lynne.

Re: Re: NEED PROJECTIONS YOU PROMISED!!!

Lynne:

Good news. Phil and I hashed it all out. We're good.

Not only that, he worked some magic with his schedule and got the numbers to me that I needed in time for the meeting with my vendor, which went very well. I want to apologize for the fact this had to muddy up your day. It was my fault. I didn't handle things very well with Phil. I'm still learning.

Thanks,

Chad

This is new territory for Chad. Technically, this mess wasn't his fault. It was Phil's for not hitting the deadline he had promised. But Chad realizes he'd taken Phil's relatively minor miscue and created a forest fire with his over-the-top e-mail. I've really got to be nicer, thinks Chad, as he pulls up his notes on Susan. He misses the point completely, though; niceness has nothing to do with it. Susan pokes her head in the doorway.

"Now?" she asks.

"Yes, now, please come in and sit down," Chad says, all smiles.

"Mike, you're right. In fact, you're 100 percent right," Gary responds. "I've been seriously underperforming on all fronts. You guys shouldn't ever have to wait on me. That's just silly on my part. And yeah, I had some ideas for Kim, to steer things in another direction, you know, but I just didn't have the energy to spit them out. You know, with all that I'm going through."

Gary is going through a divorce. He and his wife of 12 years are headed to court over a wide variety of issues, including custody of their two children. Because of this, Gary has been spending way too much time on the phone with his lawyer. In addition, he has a new romantic relationship that is creating even more havoc in his personal life. Gary isn't the strong and silent type. He freely shares all of his travails with anyone in the office who will listen.

Mike pauses and slowly delivers his response. "Gary, what you are going through doesn't matter to me when I measure your performance. It can't help me and others here succeed. I'm not happy things are a mess for you right now at home, but I can't take that into consideration. It won't help me, and it won't help you."

"Ouch," Gary quickly responds. "I never took you for the 'ice water in the veins' type of guy. Can't you see I'm struggling here?"

"Sure I can," Mike smiles, "and because my blood always flows through my veins at just the right temperature, I want to share something with you. We have a great team here, and you're still a part of it. When you walk into the office, I want you to realize this is one place where you can succeed every single day, no matter what is going on out there in your life. Even when everything else is lousy, you can still be great when you're here."

"Okay, you're right. . .absolutely," Gary says. "But it's just I have such a hard time concentrating on all of our projects when I keep thinking I may actually lose my kids."

"You're right," says Mike. "And at the same time, if you're going to earn your pay, that means your colleagues, your boss, me, and the owners of the company deserve the full Gary. We're not getting anywhere near that right now. You're getting paid every two weeks like clockwork, and you're getting full benefits as well. In return, you're not delivering anywhere near what we're investing in you. You're a loss for us right now, and no business can keep losing and survive."

"Yeah, but . . ." Gary begins.

Mike holds up his hands, asking Gary to stop. "Gary, the next time you miss a deadline or show up late for a meeting, here's what's going to happen. I'm going to spend some time in my office squaring things with HR; then I'm going to call you in where we'll have, oh, about a two-minute meeting. It's going to be short because I'm going to fire you; and there won't be a lot for either one of us to say. Someone from HR will be there to document the whole thing, but they won't say much, either. But that's just the start of this lousy episode for both of us."

Mike pauses for a moment to let the scene sink in for Gary.

"Then I'm going to grab a box from shipping and stand right next to you at your desk while you clean it out. My guess is we'll both suffer from the unbelievably awkward silence as you place all your personal stuff including the pictures of your kids in the cardboard box. Then, we'll walk out of the office together. Everyone watching the employment death march will be pretty upset because they really like you here. And that includes me. But that doesn't matter. If you underperform, you can't work here.

"Finally, I'll walk you out to your car and offer to shake your hand and wish you luck. You'll be so upset, you may elect not to shake my hand, which I would understand. Then you will drive out of the parking lot, and, on top of everything else going on in your life, you'll have to find a job with benefits. It will be a miserable day for you and me."

Mike stops talking. It's time for Gary to respond. "Geez, Mike, you didn't spare a single bloody detail. You've really thought about this, haven't you?"

"You bet," Mike says. "I try to picture exactly how a painful episode will play out when I have to make a difficult decision. And it doesn't get any more difficult than firing someone."

"Okay, is there any hope for this patient, or should I start looking now?" Gary asks. It's a sincere question, without a hint of the passive-aggressive voice Gary had been using earlier in the meeting.

"I want you to work here. And I want you to succeed, starting right now. If I thought the situation was hopeless, we'd be doing the box thing at your desk right now," Mike says.

"Okay, please tell me how I can turn this thing around?" Gary asks.

"You bet. I've given that a lot of thought."

"Please sit down, Susan; right there is fine." Chad motions to his side chair across the desk from his chair, where he remains seated. Chad's office has a more formal feeling than Mike's. He has several pieces of framed artwork, all featuring waterfowl. Mike teases him often, telling him how much he admires Chad for recycling the calendars he got from his insurance agent. It was a good line.

"Susan, I want to start this conversation by saying that you've got to know how much respect I have for you as a person," Chad says. "You have a tremendous amount of talent, which, I can tell you right now, every single one of us admires. We really do."

Susan's worst fears are being realized. He is letting her go and just softening the blow so he won't feel so bad about it. Typical Chad! "Oh, God! Are you firing me, Chad?" Susan asks.

"No, no, I'm not, but we do have some important issues to discuss . . . issues about your performance, okay?" Chad seems to be asking for permission to proceed.

"Sure, Chad," Susan says. "I mean, of course, yes, I want to hear what you have to say."

"Great," says Chad. "Well, let me get back to where I started, and that is that I have tremendous respect for you as a person."

Susan, realizing she is safe for now, finds this choice of words silly, not comforting. "Respect for you as a person"—as opposed to what, Chad, she thinks, tremendous respect for me as an amphibian, a reptile, or what?

Chad continues, "You're very professional in your demeanor in all aspects of your job, and, in many ways, you're a great role model for others in the division. You're always on time and you never complain. That's really been a blessing for me."

"Well, that certainly is nice to hear, Chad." Susan says, very relieved. "Thank you for the compliment." But she is also confused. What is this meeting for? Is she in trouble or not?

"Well, that's exactly why I wanted to chat with you," Chad continues. "It's because you're so professional that I'm troubled by the last three estimates you put together for the production team. They were way off. So much so that we wound up just breaking even on two of them, and actually lost money on the third. That's no way to be profitable, especially in this economic environment. Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"Sure—you want better estimates from me, is that right?" Susan asks, meekly.

"Exactly, that's what I want," Chad says with a bit of triumph in his voice. "And I want you to know that I'm here to help you. I'm pretty good with a spreadsheet every now and then. If you have questions, I'll help you."

"So my job's not on the line, then?" Susan asks.

"Well, I hate to threaten anyone, Susan. That's just not my style." Chad's tone grows very conciliatory. "And I would hate to lose you. But if we can't get these estimates on the money, we're going to have an even tougher conversation next time, okay?" Again he asks for her permission.

Now Susan is really perplexed. What did he mean by "tougher conversation"? Would he fire her, or just put her on some type of double-secret probation? And should she come to him and get his help on the next project estimate, and then the one after that? She isn't sure at all what he's trying to tell her. But she isn't going to ask any additional questions. She isn't fired, and for now, that's good enough.

"Yes, Chad, I understand completely." She doesn't at all.

"Great, well, before we wrap up, there's something else I want to tell you."

Oh, no, thinks Susan. What now?

"Here's what we're going to do, Gary," Mike says. "I'm going to lay out five specific tasks and assignments that you have to score a success with—starting right now. I'm going to monitor your progress week by week. If you hit the mark with every one of them, I'll be able to say your performance is back to where we need you to be."

Mike goes through each of the five in great detail. He paints pictures of success for each of the assignments. He doesn't just give Gary the vague directive "to improve"; instead, Mike gives him highly specific coaching and then describes what a successful outcome looks like or sounds like in each situation.

"I do want you to challenge Kim," Mike says. "I'm not asking you to pipe down and dutifully just follow orders. Say what you like and don't like every time. But do it during the meetings, instead of later on when it doesn't help. Be specific about your criticisms and then give a strong alternative that you have thought through. Kim cannot only take it, she'll welcome it, and she'll have you glad to be back in the productive fold again."

When he's through, Mike pauses and slowly asks Gary, "Are you clear on what you have to do to keep your job in each of these tasks? If you aren't, please tell me what you don't understand, and I will work harder to describe success to you."

"No, Mike," replies Gary. "I get it. This is fair. One final question: Do you think I can do this?"

"I know you are capable of following through, but I don't know if you will. It's all up to you whether or not you succeed. I will be rooting for you, though." Mike puts out his hand.

Gary shakes it, nods, and walks out of the office. Gary is shaken, but he is not in doubt about what he has to do to keep his job. There is a voice mail for him from his divorce lawyer when he gets back to his desk. He decides to return the call on his way home from the office. So instead of getting wrapped up with his lawyer for 15 minutes or more, Gary opens up his project file on his desktop.

"The final thing I want to tell you is that there is absolutely no doubt in my mind you can do this." Chad says. "You are smart, hardworking, and, like I said, extremely professional. You'll get these estimates right, I'm sure of it. All you need is a little push in the right direction to concentrate more."

Susan smiles. "I'm glad you have faith in me," she says. But she has no idea what he wants her to do differently. She knows about her screwups on the three estimates. But she didn't know precisely what to do differently, besides jumping into Chad's office soon and then often after that to ask for help.

She knows she is professional and hard working; Chad didn't need to tell her that. What she needs to know is how to specifically improve her weak performance. She wishes he'd tell her exactly what to do differently, or precisely what she isn't seeing to make the software work for her the way it's supposed to.

Susan is about to pursue these questions when Chad breaks the moment of silence by bringing his hands together in a pseudo clap and belting out, "Well, we seem to be on the same page, Susan. I'm so glad we had a minute to go over this."

"Yes, me too, Chad." They shake hands, and Susan walks out of the office.

Chad sits as his desk and pats himself on the back. He successfully implemented the "criticism sandwich": Give them something positive so they won't take the bad news poorly; tell them what they need to improve; then give them a big boost of confidence going out the door. Yes, Chad thinks, that's really a good way to help an employee, and I performed well in doing it.

When Susan gets back to her cubicle, she makes sure no one can see her monitor and types in "Monster.com" on Google.