Nearly half of new hires fail within 18 months, according to Leadership IQ. This means that all leaders should be prepared to make some mistakes when it comes to choosing talent for their teams.

My post this week on Inc.com focuses on “When You Know It's Time to Part Ways.” Whether an employee fails to perform up to par, has a poor attitude, or is a mismatch with the company's values, you need to recognize when to cut your losses and how to do so with a minimum of disruption to the rest of the team.

The column highlights three ways that leaders can make the difficult task of letting someone go clearer and easier for everyone involved. These include:

• Being clear about your values, emphasizing cultural fit over competency.

• Trusting your gut and acting quickly when the facts are clear.

• Enlisting your team to help protect the company's core values by holding people accountable after identifying poor culture fits.

While letting someone go is never easy, being willing to confront the situation sooner rather than later can help make the kind of difference that-as author Jim Collins points out-separates the good companies from the great ones.

Read the full post here.