Are you leading with your head or your heart when your employees are getting off course?

When I was leading a team of people, I hired the most amazing employee, until they weren’t. 
 
They had the skills and experience to do the job. I was beyond excited to snatch them up! Initially when they started working for us, they were:
 
Engaged and exceeded expectations
Get the work done with excellence
Had a positive attitude that assisted not only our team but our organization.
 
After a certain amount of time, I started noticing opportunities in them:
 
A poor attitude
Work wasn’t being completed
If the work was completed – it was subpar at best
Unwilling to help their team
 
On a weekly basis I had 1:1’s with them and coached them. Through the coaching, I learned everything was stemming from challenges in their personal life. It was some pretty heavy stuff and my heart ached for them. 
 
Again and again, I coached and held them accountable to their responsibilities.
 
Until I came to terms with the fact the coaching and accountability, wasn’t working and I started going through the disciplinary process. 
 
It was painful. Painful for me, for my team. And by going through that process, their performance didn’t improve, it just got worse. In the end, I terminated their employment. 
 
After – I received a tremendous amount of feedback from my team.
 
They were relieved.
They had caused the work environment to be toxic
They dreaded coming to work
 
Looking back, I let their performance go on way too long…I was leading from my heart and not my head and the impacts were extraordinary. 
 
A year after their termination I got the following message:
 
“I wanted to reach out to you because although we parted on bad terms, I wanted to let you know I did take heed to the coaching you implemented during our one on ones. I still have those notes from our meetings and when I feel like life is about to beat me, I reflect on your words. I can’t do anything in life without ensuring I’m taken care of first. I’ve had many ups and downs and I’m still a work in progress. For that I will forever be grateful because I utilize that in my everyday life, and I caught myself saying the same to my son. I hope all is well with you. FYI - I don’t sleep well at night but I woke up thinking of you and how I could’ve done things differently. So, on short thank you for helping understand me. Stay blessed.”
 
There’s a balance – leading with my head resulted in termination. Which lead to the rest of my team being fully engaged again and happily take on the world and then some. AND leading with my heart made the ultimate difference for this person’s life.
 
One doesn’t exist with the other.