I wasn’t always a rockstar in HR. I’ve made quite a few major blunders in my career. I’m going to share the stories of the ones that most impacted me this month in a series. Keep reading …

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All Alfonso dreamed about was making me look bad so I would be fired and he could take my job.

And he was the first direct report I ever had.

I never wanted him, for the record! The behavioral testing said he was highly competitive and did not possess the will-do attitude toward administrative tasks. The amount of paper pushed was huge so I thought it was going to be a problem. I also didn’t think working on a team with someone who tested “highly competitive” was in the best interest of anyone involved. I wanted to keep interviewing; the rest of the group thought we’d found the best candidate. My boss and boss’s boss were 2 of the other 3 so I caved.

EPIC FAIL !!!!

Alfonso made my life miserable. His work product was less than satisfactory. He did not follow instructions. He gossiped about me to the client and my coworkers, causing them to question my work ethic and management skills. He convinced them that I was territorial and unwilling to share my knowledge with him because I feared being replaced — and that I was the reason he was failing. Every attempt I made to coach or counsel him blew up in my face and somehow only seemed to confirm what he was saying about me. They bought into his lies.

I was devastated. And I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t know how to manage someone on a professional level. With our production employees, it was easy. But Alfonso took a level of finesse that I didn’t have.

I gave up. I let him run amok. My working relationships and our relationship with the client suffered tremendously.

Eventually, Alfonso was exposed. I let him put together the Quarterly presentation for our client — to help his “development” of course — which was it’s own epic fail! It took him forever to compile the data and what he had was wrong because he hadn’t been keeping up with the reporting. The client had questions about how we were going to staff and train for the summer forecast that he couldn’t answer because he hadn’t followed the plan I’d given him to learn the machines and training program. It sucked to watch his demise at the expense of our reputation, but I didn’t know what else to do and nothing else I tried had worked.

About a week after that meeting, Alfonso quit. He didn’t even give notice. He just walked in the door, dropped his letter and keys on the desk and walked back out. Three months later, we lost the account to a competitor. And I left the company to pursue my MBA with hopes of going into traditional HR Management.

Here’s what I learned:

• Trust your hiring tools. We put screening and selection methods in place for a reason. Never ignore the red flags or talk yourself into hiring a candidate who is lacking in a significant category.
• Performance must be measurable. Nothing is more critical than for a manager to be able to quantify the work of their subordinates. You have to know what they do, how they do and why they do it so you can coach, counsel and correct them as needed. Managers who cannot successfully do this will always fight an uphill battle and find themselves chasing their tail on development and discipline.
• Business is personal. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Keep your circle of trust small. Guard your reputation. Like a trained attack dog.
• Give up but don’t give in. There are times when you’ll try everything you know but nothing can change the person or the situation and you just have to let the fallout happen. But never at the expense of your honor or principles. Maintain your integrity even when no one else does. Wear it like a badge.

I never heard from or saw Alfonso again. I googled him out of curiousity in preparing this post. He’s working in construction now. The HR profession is better off.

As much as I’d like to say I would thank him if I saw him … I can’t.