Hiring the wrong person is frustrating. Firing someone only to later regret it is even worse.
Both of these costly leadership hiring mistakes—mishires and misfires—usually have one thing in common: they’re not entirely the employee’s fault. They’re on us—the manager, the leader and the hiring team.
Let’s unpack this.
Mishires: When Fit Fails and Role Clarity is Missing
A mishire isn’t just someone who lacks experience or the right technical skills. It’s someone who doesn’t fit—because the hiring team failed to define what fit even looks like.
We tend to overvalue résumés and undervalue the untrainable traits:
- Tenacity
- Self-awareness
- Emotional intelligence
- Curiosity
- Coachability
These are the ingredients of long-term success. And yet they’re often overlooked in favor of credentials and keywords or the latest business buzz words.
But here’s the kicker: even if you do hire someone with the right DNA, if your onboarding processes are chaotic, your expectations are vague, and your systems are clunky, you’ve still set them up to fail.
Many leadership hiring mistakes begin not at the moment of job offer and acceptance, but in the lack of preparation before Day One.
Hiring the right person for the wrong environment is still a hiring mistake.
Ask yourself:
- Is the role clearly defined?
- Have we identified the key performance indicators that matter most?
- Have we provided the tools, systems, and support to help them win?
- Are we giving them regular, real-time performance coaching?
The goal is simple: Put your new hire in a position where THEY are the only limiting factor to their success.
When you do that, you dramatically reduce the risk of both mishires and the next problem—misfires.
Misfires: Firing Before Taking Responsibility
A misfire is when you let someone go, then later realize you didn’t set them up to succeed in the first place.
This happens all the time. And it’s not just a performance issue—it’s a leadership one.
You didn’t define the role.
You didn’t train or coach them.
You didn’t fix the broken workflows.
You didn’t give them the feedback they needed—early and often.
Instead, you handed them a mess and expected magic.
And when it didn’t work out, you blamed the person… not the conditions.
In hindsight, many leaders admit they fired too soon—or without owning their part. When you fail to invest in onboarding best practices or you delay real performance management coaching, you’re inviting failure.
The Real Question Every Leader Must Ask
Before you hire—or fire—ask yourself:
Have I done my job in setting this person up for success?
That includes:
- Clear expectations and role clarity
- A well-mapped workflow
- Functional tools and systems
- Timely feedback and support
- Access to executive coaching for managers and team leads
If even one of those is missing, the failure may not be theirs.
And if you keep blaming employees for underperformance without fixing the ecosystem they’re operating in, the cycle will repeat. More bad hires, more unnecessary terminations, more damage to morale and momentum.
Better Leaders, Better Hires
The most effective leaders don’t just build teams—they build the conditions for teams to thrive.
They avoid leadership hiring mistakes by looking deeper than the résumé.
They avoid firing mistakes by creating systems that support performance.
And they understand that accountability doesn’t start at the bottom—it starts at the top.
Hiring and firing are leadership actions. Treat them like it.
Want support in building a hiring and onboarding system that reduces leadership hiring mistakes and sets your people up for real success?
Our executive coaches work with leaders and teams to design roles, coach for performance, and build ecosystems where great people can thrive.
