Letting someone go is never easy. Especially when the person is well-liked, deeply caring, and believes they’re doing the right thing. This is the story of how one company faced that challenge — and how a TriMetrix assessment revealed why the misalignment could not be fixed.
The Situation
Superior Linen’s CEO reached out with a difficult situation. Their HR Manager had become overly involved in the personal lives of employees.
She saw herself as their “mother hen,” protecting and defending them at all costs. But this good intention created a serious problem: she began openly challenging supervisors in public meetings, undermining leadership, and escalating conflicts instead of resolving them.
The CEO asked me to assess the HR Manager using the TriMetrixHD suite and advise on next steps.
What the TriMetrix Revealed
DISC: Behavior Style
Her natural style showed High Influence and Steadiness – friendly, approachable, people-first.
But Low Dominance and Low Compliance meant she avoided direct confrontation and resisted rules and structure.
👉 Translation: Empathetic with employees but not wired to enforce policies or back leadership.
Motivators: What Drove Her
- Social/Altruistic – She cared deeply about helping others and saw this as her core purpose.
- Utilitarian – ROI, efficiency, and bottom-line value did not drive her.
- Individualistic – She had some independence, but not a strong drive to lead decisively.
- Aesthetic/Traditional – Valued personal fairness and authenticity more than organizational standards.
👉 Translation: She truly believed “the employee is always right” and dismissed leadership’s Utilitarian focus on results.
Competencies: Skills in Action
Her top strengths included Customer Focus, Interpersonal Skills, and Empathy.
But at the bottom of her skills list? Decision Making, Personal Accountability, and Conflict Management.
👉 Translation: She could listen and support but struggled to make hard calls or hold others accountable.
Acumen: Thinking Patterns
- High Understanding Others – She read employees well.
- Lower Practical Thinking and Systems Judgment – She didn’t value organizational structure or processes.
- Low Role Awareness – She lacked clarity about her responsibility as a leader inside the company.
👉 Translation: She trusted employees’ stories but doubted supervisors and the company’s procedures and protocols.
The Misalignment
On paper, she was caring and supportive – traits you want in HR.
But in practice, her deeply entrenched values and low alignment with business priorities created constant friction.
She simply could not shift from “protector of employees” to “strategic partner with leadership.”
The Outcome
After reviewing her TriMetrix results with her and holding very transparent conversations with Leadership, I gave my professional opinion: this HR Manager was unlikely to change her approach.
The company needed HR to align with the mission and lead with balance. She was committed to protecting employees, even at the company’s expense.
Separation was the only path forward.
From the CEO
“Because we read Nancy’s “Little Red Book of Hiring and Firing” and brought her in to thoroughly evaluate the situation, our team had more resolve to act. The manner in which we dealt with a very difficult termination turned into a very good team-building process.
Surprisingly, once armed with the right tools, we were able to make a difficult but unanimous decision. We are on a single mission with a clearer purpose today.”
– Scott, CEO, Superior Linen
💡 The Takeaway
Good intentions don’t always make for good alignment.
HR must balance advocacy for employees with loyalty to leadership and the mission.
TriMetrix revealed exactly why this HR Manager wasn’t able to do that – and why letting her go, while hard, was the right decision for the company.
👉 Need to hire an HR Manager?
We’ve built a benchmark based on the best HR leaders – the behaviors, motivators, competencies, and thinking patterns that consistently drive success.
📩 Contact us today and we’ll share the benchmark with you – so you can see what to look for when hiring your next HR leader.