I have an employee that is absolutely dedicated to everything we do. She has dedicated her whole life to the business. When things don’t go well financially she offers to work for free.
Problem is that she sucks. I don’t know what to call it but it’s kind of like the opposite of the Midas touch, everything she touches turns to shit.
We are afraid to even give her the most simple of projects because she will find a way to create a disaster. She has zero self-awareness and thinks that she walks on water. She’s always trying to get involved in other people’s projects and that is a guaranteed way to either bring it to a grinding halt or bring it crashing down.
After saying it out loud the obvious answer is to fire her. But it is hard. She has been ingrained in everything we do since day one. She knows all of our secrets and all of our weaknesses. I’d rather not burn any bridges.
Would be nice just to find a way to tell her nicely that she sucks and we would like her to stay in her lane and only do the basic projects we assign.
Sounds like she is willing to do a good job. I would sit down with ALL employees after the first of the year and set the tone and vision for the coming year. Set clear goals and expectations, ask each employee if they have any problems with the metrics you have laid out and then hold them all accountable including her.