Never Settle for FINE

I had to give two hard performance reviews today. I treasure both team members. They are wonderful human beings. They are smart, funny, insightful, but are not a good fit for my team.

I could live in the lie of “fine.”

• They are fine.

• It’s fine, we will make it work.

I could invite them into the lie of “fine.”

• “You are doing fine.”

• “Its fine, don’t worry about making those mistakes (for the fifth time)”

• “You are off to a fine start.”

Fine is never the goal. Fine isn’t even a state of being. Its a state of toleration. We weren’t meant to be fine. We were meant to be great. We are great!