The excerpt from Dr. Henry Cloud is from the first lines of his book Necessary endings. It applies to all aspect of life, but in business there are three areas that every leaders will deal with perhaps many times in their career.

Products and Services

Years ago, I was working with the leadership team of a company doing a little more than $3 million in annual revenue. About $500,000 of that revenue came from a distribution channel that was growing at a slower rate than the others. It required more energy and the cooperation of too many people. The recommendation was to walk away from the channel. Not surprisingly, redirecting energy and resources to the remaining channels had an incredible impact on the company’s growth. They tripled in just a few years.

More recently, in a leadership team meeting with another client, I asked:

“To make it easier to achieve the revenue and profit targets thirty-six months from now, is there a product or service that is more of an anchor? Is there something that we should talk about ending?”

Each leader wrote their answer on a sheet of paper and handed it to me. There was one product they all agreed they would shed. What followed was a discussion about the markets slow adoption of the product and the benefits of redeploying resources to the products gaining faster market share.

If a product, service, or market feels misaligned with your strategic theory—how you win in the marketplace—or if it feels stuck, perhaps you should consider a necessary ending.

Sometimes it’s not a product or a service. Sometimes it’s a customer.

Young businesses often keep “poor fit” customers because the cash flow is important. If you’ve had one, you know the disproportionate impact they can have on your physical and mental resources—not to mention the morale of your people. If you have one now, perhaps you should be considering a necessary ending.

Twenty years ago, I had one of these. A large client who wouldn’t follow through on implementing recommendations and then complained about the results. When I found myself thinking about them all the time but dreading their calls, I realized it was worth taking the short-term revenue hit to go replace them with a “right fit” client.

And then there’s the most common necessary ending: a team member.

There are the obvious situations—poor performance or behavior that clearly warrants a change. But the harder ones are when today’s performance is “fine,” yet not good enough for tomorrow.

As a business coach, I see this play out often. When we begin working with a leadership team, we develop a Results Map. Roles are clarified, along with the outcomes leaders are expected to achieve—both individually and within their departments. As the company grows, each leader must grow too. Tactical skills and subject matter expertise become less important. Strategic thinking and the ability to get results through others become essential.

Often, there’s a member of the leadership team who is unable or unwilling to grow and accept the new accountability that comes with it. The real challenge? It’s often someone “who helped us get where we are today.” There’s an appropriate sense of loyalty or obligation that makes a necessary ending hard.

But if the leader has been clear about expectations and what success looks like…

If they’ve provided the necessary tools, training, and coaching…

And if the person still hasn’t leveled up…

Then it’s time for a necessary ending.

It’s worth noting that when leaders are skilled at creating and maintaining clarity—about expectations, success, and support—team members will often initiate the necessary ending themselves. And not every ending requires separation. Sometimes, it’s simply a change in role.

A few years ago, a leadership team member at a client company struggled to let his direct reports deal with their own inefficiencies and poor decisions. He was constantly stepping in to fix things—something he was very good at as a subject matter expert. But the impact was clear: he wasn’t developing his team, wasn’t holding them accountable, and was falling behind on his own responsibilities to work “on” his part of the business more and “in” it less.

After several quarters, it became obvious to everyone—including him—that the leadership team couldn’t wait on him any longer. In this case, the company’s needs allowed him to stay on in a role as an individual contributor. The owner hired a new leader with the strategic and people skills the role required. Within a few months, it felt like anchors had been cut loose. The synergy with the new leader raised the effectiveness of the entire team and the overall company results.

Let’s end where we began.

To be an effective leader—of a company, a team, or even of yourself—sometimes you can’t move forward unless you leave something behind. If you’re feeling stuck, take some time to evaluate what’s holding you back.

And to help with that, click here to download the Identifying Potential Necessary Endings Worksheet we’ve created to help you think about your own situation.

Additionally, I highly recommend Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud.
​