Termination Messaging Strategy - Organizational Signal
Situation
Discussed with Max the organizational messaging around Trinity termination. The termination is not about introducing fear but correcting a losing posture that existed before. Nathan was coached to communicate clearly that Trinity was not meeting the bar, and that leadership alignment is expected.
Reasoning
The organization was in an unacceptable place before the terminations - this is about raising standards, not introducing fear. The message to engineering is: standards exist and will be enforced. Nathan needs to publicly align with the decision so his team understands the bar and that circumventing management chain wont work. Leveraging strong job market position changes the available tools but not the underlying goal of higher standards.
Additional Context
Following H1 planning offsite where new standards were set. Trinity termination executed. Nathan needed coaching on how to communicate this to his team to turn it into forward momentum rather than fear/stagnation.
Related Context
slack
The reality is we were in a losing posture before, and need to do better... If people dont want to follow that lead, they should go. THATS the clear message of this termination.
Outcome
Engineering still does not seem to grasp the importance of delivery and Ownership of work. They're fixated on being presented a guarantee of safety, which they are not going to get at CIQ or anywhere else. I've decided not to pursue their comfort further but to focus on standards.
Rating: 2/5
Decision ID: 4d931851-7856-48bc-b4b3-ef92c5e276e0