Fire Quickly. Hire Slowly. Stop Pretending.

Most agency owners have one.

Maybe two.

That employee who requires constant management. The one you complain about at home. The one who comes up in every leadership meeting. The one you’ve discussed with your coach, your peers, your mastermind group… anyone who will listen.

They’re not a good fit.
Their quality is inconsistent.
And somehow they manage to consume 30–40% of your mental energy without actually moving the business forward.

And yet you keep thinking:

Maybe we can fix them.

You can’t.

The Pattern Every Agency Owner Recognises

After working with hundreds of agencies over the past decade, the pattern is painfully consistent.

The “problem employee” rarely turns things around.

The people worth keeping usually improve quickly with clear expectations and decent management.

The people who constantly create friction? They keep creating friction.

Yet agency owners hesitate.

You’re a good person.
You believe in investing in people.
You want a supportive culture.

Maybe someone just needs a chance. Maybe they just need someone to believe in them.

So you give them another chance.

Then another.

Meanwhile, something else is happening that you might not notice.

Your Best People Are Watching

Your A players see everything.

They see how much energy you’re spending on one person.
They see the standards slipping.
They see the inconsistency.

And eventually they start asking themselves a quiet question:

Is this leadership?

The most capable people in your team always have options. And when they begin to doubt the direction of the organisation, they start exploring those options.

That’s the real risk.

The Moment It’s Over

There’s usually a clear signal.

The moment someone becomes a constant topic of conversation, the decision has effectively already been made.

They may still be on payroll.

But the situation is already costing the business.

Then eventually the decision happens. You let them go.

And something interesting occurs.

What Happens After You Fire Them

Every single time, the same pattern appears.

The team moves faster.
Communication improves.
Small decisions that used to take days suddenly happen in hours.

And you sit there thinking:

Why did we wait so long?

It’s one of the most common regrets agency leaders share.

But that moment usually creates a new instinct.

You stop second-guessing yourself about these things.

You adopt a new rule:

Fire quickly. Hire slowly.

Not Every Struggling Employee Is the Problem

This doesn’t apply to everyone who needs support.

Some people simply need:

• Clear expectations

• Better management

• Structured feedback

• Time to grow

Those people can become great team members.

The real problem is different.

It’s the employee whose values fundamentally don’t align with your organisation. The one who consistently drains energy from the team. The one who creates friction wherever they go.

Keeping them isn’t compassionate.

It’s unfair to the rest of the team.

Your Business Needs Net Contributors

Every person in an agency should be a net contributor.

Someone who adds more value than they consume.

Someone who solves problems rather than creating them.

Someone you would happily clone if you could.

This matters more now than ever.

Agencies today face:

• AI commoditising parts of the work

• Global competition lowering barriers to entry

• Clients becoming more cautious about spending

Your team simply can’t afford dead weight anymore.

Stop Managing Problems. Start Building a Team.

Most agency owners didn’t start their business to spend their days managing constant problems.

You built an agency to do excellent work with good people.

But if you’re spending most of your energy trying to fix someone who doesn’t want to improve - or who simply doesn’t belong in the culture you’re building - then you’re not leading anymore.

You’re doing triage.

So there’s a decision to make.

You can keep hoping that more time and more good intentions will fix the problem.

Or you can act.

How to Handle It Properly

When the decision is made, act decisively.

Not as a trial balloon.
Not as the beginning of a slow goodbye.

Handle it cleanly.

Have the conversation early in the day.
Plan the severance discussion. Be direct and respectful.

Your best people will notice.

They’ll see that standards matter and that leadership is willing to make hard decisions.

That’s not cruelty.
It’s respect.

Respect for your team.
Respect for your clients.
And often respect for the person you’re letting go - who likely knows deep down that the role isn’t the right fit.

The Harder Discipline: Hiring Slowly

Firing quickly is often the easy part.

Hiring slowly is harder.

It requires patience.

It means resisting the urge to fill a gap immediately. It means not convincing yourself that someone will “figure it out.”

Instead, you choose carefully who gets a seat at the table.

Because the businesses that thrive don’t simply hire talented people.

They hire the right people.

People who share your values.
People who take ownership.
People who make the organisation stronger.

The Question Every Agency Leader Should Ask

Right now, ask yourself a simple question.

Who in your organisation is occupying mental real estate but adding very little value?

Who would you never clone?

That’s not a “problem employee.”

That’s a decision you haven’t made yet.

And the longer you avoid it, the more it costs your business.

Want to chat about it? Email me on Janusz@gyda.co