Fire Benevolently and Directly
There’s nothing worse than dragging a dreaded conversation on unnecessarily. Nobody wants to be fired, and doing the firing is never any fun either. But there are a few things you can do as a Manager or person of power to effectively and efficiently take care of business.
- Fire Benevolently. No need to beat around the bush. There are effect ways to fire that don’t need to involve sugar coating or leaving any space for conflict.
- Be Direct. Get clear and concrete on your speech. Get to the point before you waste more of your, or their time.
- Tell them Why. Be specific with your reasoning for letting them go. This will help you by not leaving room for rebuttal or excuses on their end, and it will help them learn from their mistakes so they can be a more successful employee in their next job.
- Offer them support. It’s a tough task to fire someone. And we all know how traumatic the experience can be for the employee being let go. There are ways to approach the situation that can soften the blow.
- Follow up. This is an extra act of kindness not enough of us do. But sometimes it can be useful to check in on the fired employee a few months after they’ve been let go to make sure they’re moving on healthily. Nobody wants to be responsible for scarring a former employee. There’s no harm in doing a simple check in, follow up or reaching out with well wishes.
Letting an employee go doesn’t have to be daunting. Sometimes it’s the only option and there is nothing easy about having that conversation. But when you are benevolent and direct, it’s simpler on everyone involved.
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