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Sometimes, things just don’t work out.
It could be the employee.
It could be the employer.
It could be both parties.
But it’s never easy to fire someone.
It doesn’t feel good for the person doing the firing.
It SURE doesn’t feel good for the person getting fired.
So what’s the secret to firing someone?
Two words: Be human
Treat the other person in a humane way.
Let the other person respond humanly.
There may be some yelling,
Some screaming
Some anger,
Some crying.
Don’t take it personally.
Be human
And let the rest take care of itself.
What’s YOUR secret to firing people?
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3561662932/
P.S. Tomorrow is my last day writing Slacker Manager. I hope you’ll join me at my new home at The Management Expert starting November 2nd, 2009!
314 days ago
It definitely never gets easy, no matter the reason (even for blatant theft).
It is crucial to provide the employee with regular coaching and feedback about their performance. If you are looking at the possibility of termination, you can at least set expectations that if performance doesn’t improve there will be employment consequences. The opportunity to sit down and provide feedback to the employee along the way can often avoid getting to the termination stage, but will at least mean the employee know the consequences of continued poor performance(& will often avoid most of the anger and yelling at the termination stage).
Great tips…
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314 days ago
Phil As much as I’ll miss Slacker, I’m delighted to still have two places to get my daily Phil-fix!
Best wishes and believe me, I’ll be following you at your new home!
Luv ya,
Miki
PS I think your approach is good, but as jc points out termination should never come as a surprise.
In fact, the level of surprise is a good indicatior of prior management failure.
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312 days ago
[...] The Secret to Firing Someone talks about being human and accepting that the response will also be human—and likely emotional. [...]
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